34 SELECTED ARTICLES. 
and then with the neutral acetate of lead; there was formed a 
precipitate of a fine grass-green, which became, in a few mo- 
ments, of a brownish-gray; the acetate of lead was added as 
long as the precipitate changed color, and until the last 
portions retained their green hue. It was then filtered; that 
which remained on the filter was a combination of the oxide 
of lead with the vegetable acids of the leaves, and with a 
brown coloring matter formed by the action of the air upon 
the red solutions, both aqueous and alcoholic. The remaining 
coloring matter was precipitated of a fine grass-green, by the 
acetate of lead, collected upon a filter, well washed, decom- 
posed by sulphuretted hydrogen, and evaporated to dryness 
in vacuo. The solution, precipitated by the acetate of lead, 
still yielded a small quantity of a yellowish-green precipitate 
when the free acetic acid was saturated by subacetate of lead; 
from this precipitate the same coloring matter could be ob- 
tained as from the former. 
This coloring matter, which we may call erythophylle, 
(from £pi>0po$, red, and $v%hov, leaf,) if not exactly the same as 
that of fruits, is, in appearance and chemical properties, simi- 
lar to that of the cherry and black currant. It differs but a 
shade in its color, which is a little deeper, and bordering on 
blood-red, and in the property which it has of forming green 
or yellow combinations, while those of the coloring matter of 
the cherry and grape are green or blue. The deposit which 
is formed on evaporating its solutions, is a brownish-red, more 
clear than the former, and gives, with bases, brownish-red com- 
binations, which do not,' in the air, so easily become of a deeper 
tint, like that of the fruits; but do these tints belong to the 
deposit of the coloring matter of the leaves, or rather are they 
peculiar to the red currant? This I have not examined, and 
do not know. The red coloring matter of leaves, half preci- 
pitated by lime water, yields a green precipitate, while the 
liquid assumes a paler red; thus the coloring matter is not 
originally blue. 
Jouni. de Pharmacie. 
