558 
North  American  Conifer  ce. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t     October,  1896. 
Some  estimations  of  the  tannin,  moisture  and  ash  in  the  barks 
and  leaves  of  Abies  balsamea,  collected  in  June,  1896,  were  made. 
The  tree  which  furnished  all  the  parts  was  a  nursery  specimen, 
grown  at  West  Chester,  Pennsylvania    The  results  were  as  follows  : 
Moisture. 
Ash  in  Abso- 
lutely Dry 
Material. 
Tannin  in 
Absolutely  Dry 
Material. 
Root  bark  
9-89 
5'68 
11-93 
9'36 
3-37 
12:49 
10-18 
4*48  . 
5"  13 
The  ash  in  each  case  was  found  to  be  composed  of  potassium,  cal- 
cium and  traces  of  iron,  in  combination  with  carbonic  and  phos- 
phoric acids  and  small  quantities  of  silica. 
The  aqueous  solutions  of  the  several  parts,  when  separately  tested 
with  ferric  chloride  and  bromine  water,  gave  reactions  which  indi- 
cated that  the  tannins  in  solution  belonged  to  the  oak-bark  group. 
To  more  clearly  determine  this  matter,  a  sample  of  tannin  was  pre- 
pared from  a  mixture  of  the  stem  and  root  barks,  dried  at  1200  C. 
and  submitted  to  ultimate  analysis.  The  results  were  the  following 
percentages : 
Carbon  60-41 
Hydrogen  6-2i 
These  figures  substantiate  the  relation  referred  to,  although  the 
percentage  of  hydrogen  is  about  1  per  cent,  higher  than  that  ob- 
tained from  a  number  of  other  tannins  of  the  oak-bark  group.  In 
view  of  the  qualitative  reactions,  it  is  proposed  to  allow  this  analy- 
sis to  stand  for  the  present,  to  represent  what  would  almost  certainly 
be  obtained  for  the  tannins  of  the  other  members  of  the  genus 
Abies. 
The  most  important  constituent  from  this  tree  is  the  oleoresin, 
better  known  as  balsam  of  fir ;  but  the  chemistry  of  this  product 
has  been  investigated  but  little.  Hunkel,1  in  1895,  studied  the  dis- 
tillate obtained  from  the  leaves  and  twigs,  and  found  it  to  consist  of 
1  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  67,  12. 
