BARK OP QUILLAIA SAPONARIA. 
213 
se risible odor and a taste extremely pungent, somewhat resem- 
bling that of pyrethrum. This extract (A) treated with rec- 
tified alcohol, but partially dissolved. The boiling filtered 
decoction was of a slightly amber color ; by cooling it became 
cloudy, and deposited a whitish flocculose substance (B) 
which was collected by a filter. 
This matter, which had a hydrated appearance, became 
considerably reduced by dessiccation. It was then friable, 
cracked, and closely resembled, as regards physical characters, 
small fragments of Turic gum. It had no odor ; its taste, at 
first slightly sugary, soon becamevery pungent. Re-dissolved 
in boiling alcohol and decolored by animal charcoal, it was 
allowed to undergo spontaneous evaporation ; after several 
days it dried in transparent plates, presenting no signs of 
crystallization. Moistened with a small quantity of water, it 
swelled, became opaque, and appeared to become hydrated. 
By dessiccation it soon assumed its first appearance. Dis- 
solved in water, and placed in contact with a little yeast, a 
slight fermentative movement took place in the interior of 
the liquid with the developement of a feeble alcoholic odor. 
Treated with nitric acid assisted by heat, this matter dissolved ; 
but after twenty-four hours there was precipitated to the bot- 
tom of the capsule, a powder of a canary yellow color, which 
was separated from the supernatant liquid, and which, when 
washed, had a well marked bitter taste. The first washings 
produced in the salts of lime a granulated precipitate. The 
yellow powder remaining upon the filter, was very soluble, 
even in cold alcohol at 36°, the solution, evaporated cautiously, 
left a yellow coloring substance, which appeared to be the re- 
sult of the action of nitric acid upon the pungent matter. 
Some decigrammes of the pungent matter (B) were dis- 
solved in a small quantity of distilled water; they communi- 
cated to this liquid an opaline tint, and the property of froth- 
ing by agitation. The liquid, tested by several reagents, pre- 
sented the following phenomena : 
The subacetate of lead occasioned in it an abundant curdled 
precipitate ; 
