Ig*£m'  J    Content  of  Ash  of  Certain  Drugs.  271 
THE  MANGANESE  CONTENT  OF  THE  ASH  OF  CERTAIN 
DRUGS.1 
By  L.  E.  Westman  and  R.  M.  Rowat,  Ottawa,  Canada. 
Although  the  significance  of  the  presence  of  manganese  in  plants 
and  its  relation  to  plant  metabolism  is  not  yet  clear,  the  quantity  of 
manganese  observed  to  be  present  in  the  barks  of  certain  laxative 
drugs  and  in  other  portions  of  plants  used  for  similar  purposes  was 
considered  by  the  authors  to  be  worthy  of  general  mention. 
Hafner  and  Krist  have  pointed  out  in  a  qualitative  way  that  a 
large  number  of  drug  plants  contain  manganese.  They  were  able 
to  obtain  positive  tests  for  manganese  in  164  drugs  listed  in  the 
Austrian  Pharmacopoeia,  and  were  led  to  this  investigation  by  the 
occurrence  of  a  greenish  color  in  the  ash  of  many  drugs.  This 
color  is  formed  when  the  ash  is  strongly  heated  in  a  muffle  from 
the  manganite  salts  present  and  is  certainly  most  marked  in  many 
instances,  especially  those  where  an  extract  of  the  drug  has  been 
evaporated  and  ashed.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  only  a  small 
fraction  of  the  lime  salts  present  in  plants  is  extracted  by  methods 
of  percolation,  and  in  the  relative  absence  of  these  salts  the  manga- 
nese that  is  extracted  becomes  observable  in  the  ash. 
The  method  adopted  by  these  authors  in  their  tests  was  as  fol- 
lows :  3  to  4  Gm.  samples  of  the  drug  were  ashed  and  the  ash  dissolved 
in  8  to  10  Cc.  of  dilute  nitric  acid  (free  from  hydrochloric  acid), 
filtered  if  necessary,  then  heated,  and  after  the  addition  of  a  small 
amount  of  brown,  manganese-free  lead  peroxide,  was  brought  to 
boiling.  When  manganese  was  present  the  liquid  acquired  a  more 
or  less  intense  purple-red  color  according  to  the  amount.  This  re- 
action naturally  fails  in  the  presence  of  chlorides. 
According  to  Pichard,  the  seeds  of  plants  are  quite  rich  in  man- 
ganese, and  Jadin  and  Astruc  find  that  the  aerial  portions  of  plants 
contain  more  manganese  than  the  subterranean.  McHargue  tabu- 
lates 51  determinations  made  on  nuts,  shells,  seeds,  and  seed  coat- 
ings, obtaining  for  his  two  highest  results  0.04  per  cent,  manganese 
in  dried  potato  peelings,  and  0.09  per  cent,  in  dried  turnip  tops. 
Manganese  has  been  shown  by  Headden  to  be  present  in  all  samples 
of  wheat  examined  in  amounts  from  0.004  to  0.007  Per  cent. 
1  From  The  Journal  of  the  American  Chemical  Society. 
