3i6 
Tannins  of  Some  Ericacece. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharrru 
X       June,  1896. 
the  first  residues  had  in  this  manner.  Repetitions  of  this  treatment 
with  water  in  the  presence  of  paper  pulp,  and  subsequent  removal 
of  the  tannin  from  the  water  solution,  were  made  with  each  of  the 
tannins  until  no  further  change  could  be  effected  by  its  agency. 
When  this  repetitious  treatment  with  water  no  longer  caused  a  sepa- 
ration of  non-tannin  materials  from  the  principles  under  considera- 
tion, these  compounds  were  obtained  in  a  porous  or  "  puffed-up  " 
condition  upon  the  last  recovery  of  the  acetic  ether.  The  tannins 
from  this  process  of  purification  were  of  light  reddish  tinge  in  the 
cases  of  trailing  arbutus,  gaultheria  and  mountain  laurel,  while  those 
from  uva  ursi,  manzanita  and  chimaphila  were  of  straw-yellow  color. 
In  order  to  still  further  free  the  principles  from  closely  associated 
resinous  impurities,  and  also  from  acetous  odors,  they  were  thor- 
oughly dried  at  1200  C,  and,  after  allowing  them  to  cool,  treated 
with  absolute  ether.  Besides  this  treatment,  and  prior  to  it,  it  was 
found  necessary,  in  the  cases  of  manzanita  and  chimaphila,  to  agitate 
the  aqueous  solutions  of  the  tannin  with  ether — a  method  which 
was  found  to  be  more  efficient  for  the  separation  of  resinous  sub- 
stances than  was  the  application  of  absolute  ether  to  the  completely 
dried  substance.  The  drying  of  the  tannins  caused  the  develop- 
ment of  a  reddish-brown  color  in  the  principles  from  gaultheria, 
trailing  arbutus  and  mountain  laurel.  This  feature  at  once  sug- 
gested their  similarity  to  oak  bark  tannin,  which  assumes  a  red  color 
under  the  same  influence.  The  tannins  from  the  several  drugs, 
after  having  been  purified  by  the  above  measures  as  far  as  it  was 
found  possible,  were  subjected  to  the  following  investigations,  for  the 
purpose  of  deciding  their  chemical  characters  and  effecting  their 
classification. 
For  the  purpose  of  comparing  the  qualitative  reactions  of  the 
several  tannins  with  the  known  behaviors  of  typical  representatives 
of  the  two  classes  of  these  principles  now  recognized,  a  I  per  cent, 
solution  of  each  was  tested  with  the  reagents  mentioned  in  the 
accompanying  chart. 
While  the  reactions  obtained  in  the  qualitative  examination  did 
not  agree  as  closely  as  might  be  desired  with  those  given  by  gall  tan- 
nin or  oak  bark  tannin,  still,  the  general  tendency  of  the  reactions 
of  the  principles  from  manzanita  and  uva  ursi  was  to  resemble  those 
of  gall  tannin,  and  the  behavior  of  those  from  trailing  arbutus,  gaul- 
theria, chimaphila  and  mountain  laurel  to  resemble  the  reactions  of 
