Am.  Jour.  Pharm.l 
Feb.,  1884.  J 
Vinum  Aloes. 
119 
colorless  oil,  insoluble  in  water,  freely  soluble  in  alcohol,  ether,  and 
acetic  acid,  boiling  with  partial  decomposition  near  265°. 
Nitroccerulignol,  C10H13(NO)2O2,  formed  by  treating  ccerulignol  with 
nitric  acid  of  sp.  gr.  1*2,  separates  from  water  or  alcohol  in  honey- 
yellow  crystals,  resembling  those  of  picric  acid,  and  melting  at  124°. 
The  decomposition  of  ccerulignol  by  hydrochloric  acid,  and  the  for- 
mation of  its  acetyl-derivative,  show  that  it  contains  the  groups  OCH3 
and  OH,  and  that  it  may  accordingly  be  regarded  as  the  methyl-ether 
of  a  higher  homologue  of  one  of  the  three  dihydroxybenzenes,  the 
compound  C9H1203  formed  from  it  by  the  action  of  hydrochloric  acid 
being  this  higher  homologue  itself,  which,  together  with  ccerulignol 
and  its  acetyl-derivative,  may  be  represented  by  the  formulae — 
C9HI0(OH)2        C9IT10(OMo)(OH)  C9H10(OMe)(OA^). 
To  determine  from  which  of  the  three  dihydroxybenzenes  ccerulignol 
is  derived,  a  small  quantity  of  each  of  these  compounds  was  heated  at 
135°  with  a  drop  of  nitro-benzene  and  a  drop  of  strong  sulphuric 
acid,  the  melt  then  dissolved  in  water,  and  the  solution  made  slightly 
alkaline, — whereupon  resorcinol  gave  a  bright  red  solution  with  yellow 
fluorescence,  catechol  a  blue-violet,  and  quinol  a  yellow  liquid.  Now 
ccerulignol  treated  in  like  manner  gave  a  reaction  exactly  like  that  of 
catechol,  and  may  therefore  perhaps  be  regarded  as  a  homologue  of 
guaiacol  (methyl-cateehol) ;  but  whether  it  contains  a  propyl-group  or 
some  other  groups,  must  for  the  present  remain  undecided. — Jour. 
Chem.  Soc,  November,  1883 ;  Monatsh.  Chem.,  iv,  188. 
Vinum  Aloes. — Having  a  prescription,  containing  wine  of  aloes, 
to  put  up,  and  there  being  none  in  store,  I  devised  the  following  for- 
mula for  its  extemporaneous  preparation : 
Aqueous  extract  of  aloes    h  oz,  av. 
Tincture  of  cardamom  fljv. 
Tincture  of  ginger  fi^ss. 
White  wine  enough  to  make  Oss. 
Dissolve  the  extract  in  the  wine  and  add  the  tinctures. 
The  tinctures  bring  the  alcoholic  strength  of  the  wine  to  that  of  the 
stronger  white  wine.  This  makes  a  clear  solution  and  is  up  to  the 
required  strength  of  U.  S.  P. 
Maybe  this  is  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  Journal.       E.  G.  Ebeele. 
