194 
Notes  on  Sesamin. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      April,  1893. 
are  mostly  long  and  narrow,  with  sinuous  longitudinal  walls  (not 
well  seen  after  the  action  of  caustic  potash).  These  characters  can 
all  be  recognized  and  identified  in  the  so-called  kamala. 
In  like  manner  the  syngenesious  anthers  can  be  distinguished  and 
identified  by  the  presence  of  elongated  pitted  cells,  with  thickened 
walls,  and  by  the  tissue  by  which  they  mutually  adhere.  Lastly,  the 
epidermal  cells  of  the  style  develop  towards  the  apex  into  short 
hairs ;  these  are  also  observable. 
In  addition  to  the  small  starch  grains  derived  from  the  corolla 
tube  of  the  safflower,  the  drug  contains  larger  angular  grains, 
isolated  or  in  compact  masses,  which  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  in 
safflower,  and  also  lignified  tissues,  apparently  the  pericarp  of  a 
small  fruit.  I  have  compared  these  latter  with  the  pericarp  of 
safflower  fruits,  kindly  furnished  me  by  Mr.  Holmes  and  by  Mr. 
Jackson,  of  Kew  ;  they  are  not  identical. 
The  presence  in  the  drug  of  about  16  per  cent,  of  ash,  much  of 
which  is  sand,  points  to  careless  collection  ;  numerous  acari  and 
small  beetles  indicate  careless  preservation.  Portions  of  the  bodies 
of  the  former  insects  are  especially  frequent  in  the  microscopic 
field. 
From  these  data  I  conclude  that  the  kamala  is  carelessly  collected 
and  badly  preserved  safflower,  mixed  with  much  extraneous  matter, 
and  reduced  to  coarse  powder. 
NOTE  ON  SESAMIN.1 
By  James  F.  Tocher. 
In  1 891  the  author  had  given  in  a  paper  read  to  the  Society  an 
introductory  notice  of  a  crystalline  substance  which  he  had  isolated 
from  sesame  oil  (see  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  1891,  p.  142)  and  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  "  sesamin."  He  now  submitted  the  results  of 
further  experiments  on  the  substance.  As  he  had  stated  in  his  for- 
mer paper,  sesamin  is  extracted  from  sesame  oil  by  means  of 
solvents,  such  as  acetic  acid  and  alcohol.  The  proportion  of 
solvent  may  vary  according  to  its  nature  and  strength.  The  pro- 
portion of  glacial  acetic  acid — 98  per  cent,  he  originally  used — was 
seven  volumes  to  ten  of  sesame  oil,  but  he  found  sesamin  to  be 
1  Chemist  and  Druggist,  February  18,  1893.  Abstract  of  a  paper  read  before 
the  North  British  Branch  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society. 
