134 
Xanthium  Strumarium. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1     March,  1884. 
XANTHIUM  STRUMAKIUM,  Linne. 
By  Matthew  Venable  Cheatham,  Ph.G. 
Abstract  from  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
The  cocklebur  is  one  of  the  first  plants  making  its  appearance  in 
the  spring,  and  the  hogs,  which  in  some  of  the  Southern  and  Western 
States  are  allowed  to  run  at  large  during  the  fall  and  winter  to  eat  the 
mast,  are  very  fond  of  the  young  plant,  but  almost  invariably  die  after 
eating  them;  warm  lard  and  other  fatty  substances  being  used  as  anti- 
dotes with  only  poor  success. 
The  writer  extracted  the  bruised  dried  fruit,  1 95*21  grams,  with 
benzin  and  obtained  29  grams  of  a  yellowish,  non-drying  fixed  oil 
having  the  specific  gravity  *900  and  a  peculiar  odor  somewhat  resem- 
bling that  of  freshly  extracted  flaxseed  oil  ;  from  the  soap  prepared 
with  it,  oleic  acid  was  obtained,  and  glycerin  was  found  in  the  mother 
liquor  of  the  soap. 
\Yith  strong  alcohol  a  resinous  extract  was  obtained.  The  portion 
soluble  in  diluted  acetic  acid  gave  precipitates  with  potassio-mercuric 
iodide,  with  iodine  and  with  tannin,  but  not  with  picric  acid;  ferric 
chloride  produced  a  green  color,  and  sugar  followed  by  a  drop  of  sul- 
phuric acid  caused  a  yellowish  color  slowly  changing  to  carmine  and  to 
bright  violet  red.  Ether  extracted  from  the  acid  solution  the  principle 
giving  these  reactions ;  but  the  small  quantity  subsequently  taken  up 
by  ether  from  the  same  solution  rendered  alkaline  by  potassa,  did  not 
give  these  reactions. 
Of  the  resinous  substance  left  after  treatment  with  acidulated  water,, 
4  grams  were  given  to  a  small  dog,  producing  no  visible  effects.  This 
substance  was  freely  soluble  in  ether  and  alcohol  and  slightly  soluble 
in  potassa  and  ammonia;  ferric  chloride  added  to  the  alcoholic  solution 
gave  a  deep  green  color  probably  due  to  a  little  tannin. 
The  principle  obtained  above,  though  probably  not  pure,  the  author 
thinks  may  be  different  from  the  xanthostrumarin  of  Zander  ("Ameiv 
Jour.  Phar.,"  1881,  p.  271),  the  latter  being  precipitated  with  picric 
acid  and  not  precipitated  with  tannin. 
Caution  about  Belladonna  Plasters.— Dr.  Martin  J.  Fleming 
reports  a  case  of  well-marked  belladonna  poisoning,  relieved  by  opium 
treatment,  in  the  Medical  Record,  January  19,  1884,  caused  by  the  applica- 
tion of  a  plaster  to  a  back  that  had  been  somewhat  denuded  by  the  use  of 
an  irritating  liniment. 
