REPORT ON A NEW JALAP. 
225 
Resin, 
Gummy extract, 
Fecula, 
Albumen, 
Lignin, 
100 
440 
24 
290 
24 
" It is seen, by this statement, that in the new jalap the 
amount of the resin, or the active principle, is less by a fifth 
than in the officinal article, whilst the lignin, or inert matter, 
is in exactly double the proportion, and that an inverse pro- 
portion holds, as regards the gummy extract. 
"The committee,furnished with thispreliminary knowledge, 
applied themselves directly to the undertaking. At the same 
time that they experimented with the new jalap in disease, 
they verified the results of the analysis of M. Le Danois; yet, 
without pre-occupying themselves with the relative quantity of 
the substances which, in this jalap, accompany the purgative 
principle, they have confined themselves to merely stating 
their existence, so as to devote their attention more particu- 
larly to the latter. Thus they ascertained that the propor- 
tion of resin, fixed by M. Le Danois at eight per cent., did 
not exceed six and a half per cent., in the specimen deposited 
by him with the Academy, the mean of two operations performed 
with the greatest care. 
" Whether the decidedly ligneous texture of this jalap, a 
greater dissemination of the resin, a peculiar condition of it, 
or some other cause presented an obstacle, we have not been 
able to succeed in isolating the resin by means of aqueous 
maceration, a method employed with success upon the offi- 
cinal jalap by one of the committee, so that we were obliged 
to have recourse to alcohol in the preceding operation. 
" We perceive in the memoir of M. Le Danois, a simple 
and direct statement of his having obtained resin, which 
would lead us to rely upon it implicitly, but which does not 
prove that there is an entire similitude between this product 
and the resin of the old jalap. 
The committee wishing to determine this still undecided 
