334 
ON  THE  BYTTERIA  FEBRIFUGA. 
scribed,  and  should  be  placed  among  amyridse,  of  the  family  of 
terebinthacege.  M.  Belanger  gave  it  the  name  of  bytteria  febri- 
fuga.  M.  Gerardias  consequently  considers  that  the  bitter  prin- 
ciple which  he  has  isolated  is  a  new  one,  and  has  given  it  the 
name  of  bytterine. 
M.  Belanger  has  since  found  the  bytteria  in  Martinique,  where 
it  is  known  by  the  name  of  male  simaruba^  whereas  the  officinal 
simaruba  is  known  there  as  the  female  simaruba.  When  M. 
Grerardias,  wished  to  avail  himself  of  this  resource  to  prepare  the 
bitter  principle  on  a  large  scale,  so  as  to  try  its  power  as  a  feb- 
rifuge, he  found  that  this  wood  was  of  three  qualities,  whose  dif- 
ferences he  attributes  to  the  conditions  of  vegetation,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  time  of  the  crop  ;  the  first  quality,  treated  by  the 
process  indicated,  readily  yields  its  bitter  principle  ;  the  second 
contains  a  larger  proportion  of  mucous  matters,  which  the  sub- 
acetate  of  lead  does  not  separate  entirely,  but  which  may  be  en- 
tirely precipitated  by  adding  ammonia  to  the  liquid,  which  is  no 
longer  rendered  turbid  by  the  subsalt  of  lead  ;  the  traces  of  metal 
which  remain  in  the  liquor,  after  the  treatment  by  ammonia,  are 
precipitated  by  carbonate  of  soda ;  then  the  bitter  principle  is 
separated  perfectly  by  evaporation. 
Finally,  in  the  third  quality  of  wood,  the  author  has  found 
very  considerable  quantities  of  fecula  which,  not  being  precipi- 
tated by  the  reagents  already  quoted,  form  a  paste  with  the  bit- 
ter principle  and  prevent  it  from  being  separated.  The  best 
process  for  the  treatment  of  this  quality  of  wood,  appears  to  be 
the  following. 
The  concentrated  decoction  is  precipitated  by  an  excess  of 
milk  of  lime,  a  little  sub-acetate  of  lead  is  added  before  filtering, 
so  as  to  cause  further  precipitation,  and  to  facilitate  the  deposi- 
tion of  that  formed  by  the  lime.  The  decanted  liquid  is  then 
neutralised  with  nitric  acid,  then  treated  with  sub-acetate  of  lead 
and  ammonia.  When  all  the  mucous  and  extractive  matters  are 
eliminated,  we  have  only  to  separate  the  last  traces  of  lead  by 
carbonate  of  soda,  which  precipitates  the  lime  at  the  same  time, 
and  then  to  evaporate. 
The  discovery  of  a  considerable  quantity  of  starch  in  the  wood 
of  the  bytteria  is  worthy  of  observation ;  it  may  become  the  object 
of  study,  and  of  important  practical  applications. 
