Am.  Jour.  Pharm.l 
Feb.,  1884.  J 
Preparation  of  Quassiin. 
99 
solved  by  the  hot  alcohol ;  the  liquid  should  then  be  decanted,  and 
sulphuric  acid  diluted  with  ten  times  its  weight  of  90°  alcohol  added 
until  a  precipitate  is  thrown  down,  from  2  to  2f  grams  being  neces- 
sary for  each  kilogram  of  quassia.  The  liquor  is  then  filtered,  milk 
of  lime  added  in  the  proportion  of  12  to  15  grams  per  kilogram  of 
wood  (or  4  to  5  grams  of  caustic  lime),  and  after  some  hours'  contact, 
it  is  passed  through  muslin  and  the  deposit  washed  with  alcohol  and 
pressed,  as  it  is  very  spongy  and  contains  much  alcoholic  liquor. 
The  liquor  being  alkaline  after  the  treatment  with  lime  it  is  neutral- 
ized by  a  current  of  carbonic  acid,  and  then  again  filtered.  Thus 
prepared  the  liquor  has  a  light  amber  tint.  It  now  remains  only  to 
distil  the  alcohol  and  to  dry  the  residue  from  the  distillation.  Each 
kilogram  of  quassia  yields  by  this  process  about  8  grams  of  a  friable 
and  easily  pulverized  product  which  is  the  amorphous  quassiin  of 
Adrian. 
If,  instead  of  amorphous,  it  be  desired  to  obtain  crystallized  quas- 
siin, the  distillation  should  be  stayed  while  there  yet  remains  a  small 
quantity  of  alcohol  in  the  product,  which  is  then  poured  boiling  upon 
a  moistened  filter  to  separate  the  resin.  This  filter  should  be  so 
placed  that  the  liquor  may  be  received  in  a  porcelain  capsule.  The 
remainder  of  the  alcohol  is  then  evaporated  by  heating  to  80°C,  and 
as  the  alcohol  volatilizes,  the  quassiin  crystallizes  out  and  is  deposited. 
As  soon  as  the  liquor  contains  no  more  alcohol,  it  is  withdrawn  from 
the  fire;  when  in  a  few  minutes  and  before  the  liquor  has  quite 
cooled  it  forms  a  crystalline  mass.  When  quite  cold,  the  mother 
liquor  is  decanted  and  the  crystals  are  washed  several  times  with  dis- 
tilled water.  The  quassiin  thus  obtained  is  not  quite  pure;  it  still 
contains  some  resin  and  uncrystallizable  quassiin.  To  purify  it,  it  is 
dried,  and  then  dissolved  by  heating  it  in  twice  its  weight  of  95° 
alcohol.  It  is  then  placed  to  crystallize  in  a  funnel  with  a  very  short 
neck  closed  by  a  cork  stopper ;  in  cooling,  the  quassiin  crystallizes,, 
*  and  after  ten  or  twelve  hours,  forms  a  mass.  The  stopper  is  then 
removed  and  the  alcohol,  which  has  been  used  in  crystallizing,  is  dis- 
placed by  90°  or  absolute  alcohol,  in  order  to  wash  the  quassiin.  As 
the  crystallizing  liquor  draining  away  is  replaced  by  fresh  alcohol,  the 
colored  quassiin  is  seen  to  become  white ;  a  second  crystallization  suf- 
fices to  render  it  very  pure ;  the  result  is  from  1J  to  1}  gram  per 
kilogram  of  quassia. 
The  mother  liquor  and  the  wash  waters  of  the  first  crystallization 
