Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.  1884 
The  Fruit  of  Opuntia  Vulgaris. 
5 
boiling  which  was  partially  dissolved  again  after  the  solution  was 
•cooled,  thus  proving  the  presence  of  tartaric  acid.  The  precipitate  was 
also  soluble  in  acetic  acid. 
The  filtrate  from  the  lime  precipitate  was  boiled,  when  a  slight  pre- 
cipitate was  formed  insoluble  in  solution  of  potassium  hydrate,  showing 
the  presence  of  citric  acid.  On  adding  solution  of  potassium  perman- 
ganate it  was  not  decolorized  until  upon  the  addition  of  potassium 
hydrate  when  the  color  was  slowly  changed  to  green. 
The  seeds,  after  having  been  dried,  were  reduced  to  powder,  and 
macerated  with  benzin  at  a  warm  temperature  for  several  days,  then 
packed  in  a  percolator  and  exhausted  with  benzin.  The  powder  was 
dried  and  a  portion  of  it  was  digested  for  several  days  in  alcohol, 
packed  in  a  percolator  and  exhausted  with  alcohol.  In  like  manner 
they  were  successively  exhausted  with  water,  with  a  very  dilute  solution 
of  potassium  hydrate  and  with  water  acidulated  with  sulphuric  acid. 
The  benzin  product  from  the  seeds  was  an  amber-colored  oil, 
which  oil  was  purified  by  washing  with  water  and  afterwards  with 
chloroform.  It  was  then  found  to  weigh  7*25  per  cent,  of  the  weight 
of  the  seed  extracted,  and  to  be  of  specific  gravity  '926.  It  possessed 
a  slight  disagreeable  odor  and  insipid  taste,  insoluble  in  alcohol  or 
chloroform,  soluble  in  benzin  and  ether. 
Treated  with  25  per  cent,  nitric  acid  and  a  strip  of  copper  turnings, 
the  mixture  assumed  a  red-brown  color,  but  after  a  day  became  partly 
solidified  and  lighter  brown.  A  quantity  of  the  oil  was  saponified  by 
potassium  hydrate;  the  solution  precipitated  by  and  washed  with 
sodium  chloride,  and  the  soda  soap  decomposed  with  hydrochloric  acid. 
The  fat  acid  was  odorless  and  tasteless,  of  a  translucent  milky  color 
and  with  slight  acid  reaction.  Its  lead  salt  seemed  to  be  but  slowly 
soluble  in  alcohol  and  insoluble  in  ether.  The  mother  liquor  of  the 
soap  contained  glycerin. 
The  alcoholic  percolate  of  the  seeds  was  nearly  colorless  and  inodor- 
ous and  of  but  slight  taste  foreign  to  alcohol  and  gave  evidence  of  the 
presence  of  glucose.  It  was  evaporated  to  dryness,  thoroughly  washed 
with  water,  and  with  chloroform  to  remove  a  greenish  extractive  matter, 
when  a  red-brown  resinous  residue  was  left  having  a  slight  disagreeable 
odor,  a  slight  nauseous,  disgusting  taste,  fusible  at  100°C,  insoluble  in 
benzin,  chloroform  or  ether,  but  soluble  in  alcolol,  diluted  alcohol  and 
carbon  disulphide. 
