454  Recent  Contributions  to  Pharmacy.  {^mkl™CSm' 
to  the  accumulation  of  acid  potassium  oxalate  in  plants  which  nor- 
mally contain  calcium  oxalate.  They  may  also  be  regarded  as 
complementary,  in  showing  that  in  the  absence  of  calcium  there  is 
a  stoppage  in  the  conduction  of  those  carbohydrates  only  which 
have  entered  into  the  condition  of  starch.  Part  of  the  carbon 
assimilated  by  plants  never  enters  into  the  starch  condition,  and  it 
is  clear,  therefore,  why  growth  is  not  at  once  arrested  in  shoots  or 
seedlings  deprived  of  calcium. 
ON  THE  PRESENCE  IN  MONOTROPA  HYPOPITYS  OF  A  GLUCOSIDE  OF  METHYL 
SALICYLATE  AND  OF  A  SOLUBLE  FERMENT. 
Em.  Bourquelot  (Jour,  de  Pharm.  et  de  Chim.,  (6)  3,  577)  has  in- 
vestigated the  glucoside  of  methyl  salicylate  in  Monotropa  hypopitys, 
and  the  soluble  ferment,  which  is  capable  of  decomposing  this  glu- 
coside. The  same  author  has  already  (Jour,  de  Pharm.  et  de  Chim>, 
(5),  30,  96,  188  and  433)  pointed  out  the  presence  of  methyl  salicy- 
late in  several  species  of  Polygala  and  in  Monotropa  hypopitys.  His 
observations  have  led  him  to  believe  that  methyl  salicylate  does  not 
pre-exist  in  the  plant,  but  that  it  is  formed,  when  the  latter  is 
crushed,  by  the  action  of  a  soluble  ferment  on  a  glucoside  of  this 
particular  ether,  and  that,  during  the  life  of  the  plant,  the  ferment 
and  the  glucoside  are  located  in  different  cells. 
The  glucoside  is  first  separated  from  the  plant  by  cutting  (or 
breaking,  in  the  case  of  Monotropa)  the  plant  in  contact  with  95° 
alcohol,  previously  heated  to  the  boiling  point.  The  alcohol  is  re- 
covered by  distillation,  and  the  syrupy  residue  dissolved  in  alcohol 
and  treated  with  neutral  lead  acetate.  The  mixture  is  filtered,  and 
the  filtrate,  which  contains  the  glucoside,  is  treated  with  hydrogen 
sulphide  to  remove  lead.  After  removal  of  lead  sulphide  by  filtra- 
tion, the  solution  is  concentrated  and  precipitated  with  ether.  The 
amorphous  mass  is  the  impure  glucoside,  which  may  be  purified  by 
a  repetition  of  the  process,  but  the  compound  has  not  yet  been  ob- 
tained in  the  crystalline  state.  Its  aqueous  solution  deviates  a  ray  of 
polarized  light  to  the  left.  The  author  considers  it  to  be  a  gluco- 
side of  methyl  salicylate,  because  the  odor  of  the  latter  is  developed 
when  this  glucoside  is  heated  with  a  2  per  cent,  solution  of  sul- 
phuric acid,  and  when  this  cooled  liquid  is  agitated  with  ether,  the 
ethereal  solution  separated  and  evaporated,  the  residue  yields  a 
violet  coloration  with  solution  of  ferric  chloride. 
