100 
Preparation  'of  Quassiin. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      Feb.,  1884. 
retain  a  considerable  quantity  of  quassiin,  which  it  is  difficult  to 
entirely  extract.  A  large  proportion  may  be  obtained  by  shaking 
these  liquors  several  times  with  chloroform,  which  dissolves  the  quas- 
siin and  separates  very  easily  from  the  aqueous  liquor.  The  chloro- 
form is  distilled  off,  and  in  this  way  the  non-cry stallizable  quassiin  is 
obtained,  it  being  deposited  from  the  alcoholic  solution  as  a  granular 
resinoid  substance,  which  is  very  easily  softened  by  heat.  Its  bitter- 
ness is  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  crystallized  quassiin.  Repeated 
treatments  with  chloroform  have  foiled  to  remove  from  the  aqueous 
solution  the  whole  of  this  quassiin,  which  seems  to  be  combined  with 
mineral  salts  that  it  still  contains. 
The  alcohol  which  has  been  used  in  the  crystallization,  as  well  as 
that  used  in  the  washing,  contains  also  in  solution  a  little  quassiin  both 
crystallizable  and  uncrystallizable,  which  may  be  obtained  by  the  same 
process  as  above  described. 
Resume. 
Crystallizable 
quassiin. 
Uncrystal- 
lizable 
quassiin. 
Mineral 
salts. 
Resin  and 
other  organic 
matters. 
Viscous  brown  amorphous 
quassiin.  in  100  parts,  con- 
tains  
Yellow  amorphous  quassiin, 
in  powder,  contains,  in  ^!0 
00  to  00 
18  to  20 
12  to  15 
18  to  20 
35  to  40 
25  to  30 
45  to  50 
30  to  35 
In  brown  quassiin,  potassium  salts  predominate. 
In  yellow  quassiin,  calcium  salts. 
Crystallized  quassiin  is  white,  light,  very  soluble  in  chloroform, 
soluble  in  about  90  parts  of  cold  absolute  alcohol,  in  35  to  40  of  80° 
alcohol,  scarcely  soluble  in  ether,  and  soluble  in  about  300  parts  of 
hot  water,  from  which  it  recrystallizes  on  cooling. 
Uncrystallizable  quassiin  is  very  soluble  in  absolute  alcohol,  more 
soluble  in  ether  than  crystallized  quassiin,  and  less  soluble  in  water. — 
Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Dec,  29, 1883. 
Succinate  of  Iron  in  Biliary  Colic— Dr.  Jas.  A.  Stewart,  of  Bal- 
timore, revives  the  claim  that  the  hydra  ted  succinate  of  the  peroxide  of  iron 
is  efficient  in  the  treatment  of  gall-stones.  He  reports  one  case  in  which  a 
patient,  a  lady  of  forty,  who  had  suffered  for  three  months  and  was  greatly 
emaciated,  recovered  health  rapidly  under  drachm  doses  of  the  succinate. 
There  had  been  no  trouble  for  two  years. — Louisv.  Med.  News. 
