^  FebmIry!^9'2'S; }  CkloYopkyl  Complexities.  1 1 3 
Be  it  said  that  the  utmost  difficulty  is  experienced  by  whoever 
attempts,  with  the  ordinary  pharmaceutical  processes,  to  untangle 
these  chlorophyl-affiliating  combinations.  Whatever  menstruum 
dissolves  chlorophyl  dissolves  also  these  waxes  and  fats;  whatever 
menstruum  precipitates  chlorophyl  from  solution  also  precipitates 
the  waxes  and  fats.  This  can  be  demonstrated  by  a  single  experi- 
ment, as  follows: 
Extract  from  a  chlorophyl-bearing  vegetable  substance,  by 
means  of  official  alcohol,  the  soluble  content.  The  percolate,  rich 
in  chlorophyl,  will  be  more  or  less  green,  in  accordance  with  asso- 
ciated coloring  matters.  Add  to  this  percolate  an  excess  of  water; 
a  green  precipitate  will  form  that  also  varies  in  shade,  in  accordance 
with  the  associated  by-products.  It  may  be  deep  green,  as  with 
blue  grass;  it  may  incline  to  blue,  as  with  freshly  tinctured  rye 
leaves  when  in  their  bluest  condition.  It  may  be  soft  and  oily,  as 
when  obtained  from  thuja  occidentalis,  or  it  may  be  hard  and  waxy, 
as  obtained  from  a  number  of  different  green  vegetable  tissues. 
And  yet  in  it  all  the  dominating  fact  is  that  chlorophyl,  with  the 
concomitant  associates,  dissolves  in  the  alcohol  and  is  precipitated 
by  the  water.  Take  these  same  green  plants,  percolate  them  or 
macerate  them  in  water,  cold,  warm  or  boiling.  The  liquid  pro- 
duced is  not  green,  the  chlorophyl  being  either  left  in  the  material 
or  destroyed  by  the  manipulation.  Nor  are  the  chlorophyl-bound 
waxes  and  fats  dissolved  by  the  water— they  remain  in  the  drug 
with  the  insoluble  chlorophyl. 
Take  the  green  oily  precipitate  produced  by  adding  the  water 
to  the  alcohol  solution.  It  is  more  or  less  soluble  in  chloroform, 
ether,  alcohol  and  other  liquids  that  dissolve  fats,  waxes  and  oils. 
Upon  the  contrary,  this  material  refuses  to  dissolve  in  glycerine, 
syrup  and  watery  liquids,  the  chlorophyl  and  its  associates  being 
hostile  to  such  liquids. 
Sum  it  all  up,  the  chlorophyl  problem  in  the  sense  presented 
herein,  has  been  in  manipulative  pharmacy  most  perplexing,  this 
by  reason  of  the  fact  that  it  not  only  is  of  no  value  in  therapeutic 
directions,  but  is  a  mighty  disturber. 
Comes  in  now,  through  what  is  known  as  colloidal  chemistry, 
the  opening  of  the  door  that  permits  the  pharmaceutical  manipula- 
tor to  exclude  from  preparations  all  these  enemies  to  good  pharmacy. 
To  untangle  these  complexities,  separate  from  them  those  of  thera- 
peutic value,  is  now  feasible,  and  by  this  step  upward  the  profession 
