298 
Varieties. 
(Am.  Jodr.Phabm. 
\    June  1,  1874. 
alterable  mineral  matters.  An  admixture  of  glycerin  may  be  used  where  such 
matters  are  required  to  be  preserved  in  a  soft  state. — Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  (Lone?.)' 
April,  1874,  from  Gompt.  Rend.,  Ixxviii,  129. 
Santonic  Acid. — H.  Hvoslef. — Hvoslef  prepared  santonic  acid  by  the  same 
process  as  Cannizaro  and  Sestini  (Jour.Ch.  Soc.  xi,  1229),  as  long  ago  as  1863. 
He  gives  the  same  formula  and  basicity  for  the  acid,  but  states  its  melting  point 
to  be  171°, 
The  following  measurements  of  the  crystals  were  made  by  Waage: 
ooP  :  oo  P  =  113°  18' 
Poo  :  Poo  =  130°  43' 
Poo  :  oo  Poo  =  140°  35' 
oo  P  :  cnPoo  =  123°  25' 
a  .  b  :  c  =  0-4588  :  1  :  0  6584 
The  santonates  of  heavy  metals  are  for  the  most  part  soluble  only  in  boiling 
alcohol,  and  the  solutions  yield,  when  cooled,  gelatinous  masses  which  gradually 
crystallize. 
The  further  action  of  baryta  on  the  solution  from  which  the  santonic  acid 
has  been  precipitated  by  hydrochloric  acid,  yields  two  bodies,  one  of  which  is 
apparently  a  sugar.  Santonic  acid  would  therefore  seem  to  be  a  glucoside. — 
Ibid.,  from  Deut.  Chem.  Ges.  Ber.,  vi,  1471. 
Helenin  and  Inula- Camphor.  —J .  Kallen.— Gerhardt  found  in  the  root  of 
Inula  Helenium  a  crystalline  body,  which  he  called  helenin.  This  substance, 
although  having  a  uniform  appearance,  and  melting  constantly  at  72°,  is  a 
mixture  of  at  least  two  compounds,  which  have  the  same  crystalline  form,  and 
cannot  therefore  be  easily  separated.  One  of  them,  for  which  the  name  helenin 
is  retained,  may  be  obtained  pure  by  repeated  recrystallization  from  absolute 
alcohol.  It  forms  long  needles  melting  at  109° — 110°,  and  having  the  empirical 
formula  Gq  Hs  0.  It  has  an  insipid  taste,  and  is  almost  insoluble  in  water. 
Its  rational  formula  could  not  be  ascertained,  as  bromine  converts  it  into  a 
resin,  and  nitric  acid  converts  it  into  oxalic  acid  and  a  resinous  nitro-com- 
pound. 
The  second  body,  which  is  more  soluble  in  alcohol,  is  inula- camphor  ;  it  can- 
not be  completely  freed  from  helenin  by  crystallization,  while  by  distilling  the 
root  with  water,  the  camphor  is  volatilized  but  only  slowly.  It  forms  small 
prismatic  needles,  having  a  hot  aromatic  taste  and  the  odor  of  peppermint. 
It  melts  at  64°,  and  dissolves  sparingly  in  water  and  freely  in  alcohol  and  ether- 
It  appears  to  be  an  isomeride  of  common  camphor:  for  on  distilling  it  with 
phosphorus  pentasulphide,  a  hydrocarbon  is  obtained  having  the  composition 
of  cymene,  and  not  that  of  Gerhardt's  helenene,  C15H16. — Ibid.,  from  ibid.,  vi, 
1506—1509. 
