454 
Analyses  of  Two  Echinacea  Roots. 
<  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     October,  1914. 
is  6.5  per  cent.  The  percentage  of  lsevulose  calculated  on  the  basis  of 
the  change  in  rotation  of  the  inverted  solution  due  to  change  in 
temperature  is  3.99  per  cent.10 
The  following  table  includes  the  results  of  the  quantitative  work 
carried  out  upon  the  alcohol  extract,  which  was  examined  for  sucrose 
and  hexose  sugars,  and  for  resin  (insoluble  in  water)  : 
B.  angustifolia.  B.  purpurea. 
Resin    1.84  2.00 
Sucrose    6.92  340 
Reducing  sugars    3.65,  3-52,  3.80  341 
The  roots  were  examined  for  alkaloids.  Of  each  species  we  used 
duplicate  ten-gramme  samples  for  assay.  When  examined  by  the 
method  which  is  official  for  belladonna  root,11  residues  were  obtained 
from  B.  angustifolia  weighing  0.0054  and  0.0077  gramme.  From 
B.  purpurea  the  weights  found  were  0.0086  and  0.0063  gramme. 
These  residues  were  not  alkaloidal,  as  they  failed  to  neutralize  any 
N/50  acid,  and^the  slightly  acid  solutions  gave  no  precipitate  with 
Mayer's  reagent. 
In  order  to  affirm  this  point  200  grammes  of  Brauneria  angusti- 
folia were  exhausted  with  Prollius' 12  solution  by  percolation.  The 
percolate  was  thoroughly  extracted  with  several  portions  of  dilute  sul- 
phuric acid,  and  from  this  acid  solution  we  were  able  to  obtain  neither 
an  alkaloidal  extract  nor  even  a  precipitation  test  with  Mayer's  re- 
agent. We  conclude,  therefore,  that  no  alkaloid  sufficiently  basic  to  be 
extracted  by  the  ordinary  methods  is  present  in  this  drug.  This,  how- 
ever, does  not  exclude  the  possibility  of  the  presence  of  choline  or 
allied  substances.  The  recent  work  of  Power  and  Browning13  in 
isolating  choline  from  dandelion  root  makes  this  a  possibility  worthy 
of  note.  Brauneria  purpurea  was  not  further  studied  in  this  connec- 
tion. 
Volatile  Oil  in  B.  angustifolia. — A  portion  of  the  fresh  roots 
equivalent  to  3.7  kilogrammes  air  dried  was  distilled  with  steam  until 
the  distillate  was  free  from  volatile  oil.  The  first  runnings  were  very 
slightly  turbid  and  carried  the  odor  characteristic  of  the  drug.  The 
10 "  Commercial  Organic  Analysis,"  Allen,  vol.  1,  p.  356  (1908).  The 
observed  rotations  of  the  normal  solution  are  about  1.50  to  the  left  greater 
than  those  calculated  for  a  mixture  of  lsevulose  and  sucrose. 
11  U.  S.  Disp.,  19th  Ed.,  p.  228. 
12  Alcohol  8  cc,  ether  88  c.c,  ammonia  (10  per  cent.)  4  c.c. 
13 /.  Chem.  Soc,  101,  241 1  (1912). 
