MANUFACTURE  OF  BORAX.  339 
III.  The  bark  of  the  root  was  reduced  to  ashes  in  a  crucible. 
The  ashes  were  then  digested  in  distilled  water  acidulated  with 
muriatic  acid.  The  liquor  thus  obtained  was  filtered  and  tested 
with  the  following  reagents  : 
Oxalate  of  ammonia,  which  produced  a  white  precipitate, 
showing  the  presence  of  a  salt  of  lime. 
Bi-chloride  of  platinum,  a  yellow  crystalline  precipitate,  a 
salt  of  potassa. 
Eerrocyanide  of  potassium,  a  light  blue  color,  a  salt  of  iron. 
IV.  The  bark  of  the  root  was  treated  for  berberin  by  the 
same  process  that  is  employed  for  obtaining  this  alkaloid  from 
Berberis  vulgaris.  The  bark  of  the  root  was  pulverized  and  infused 
with  boiling  distilled  water.  The  infusion  was  then  evaporated  to 
the  consistency  of  a  soft  extract,  which  was  exhausted  with  alcohol, 
and  evaporated  to  a  small  bulk,  and,  while  yet  warm,  sulphuric 
acid  was  added,  when  upon  cooling  the  sulphate  of  berberin  was 
obtained  in  small  acicular  crystals.  The  sulphate,  having  been 
dissolved  in  water,  was  then  decomposed  by  oxide  of  lead.  The 
liquid  was  then  filtered  and  allowed  to  crystallize.  The  crystals 
thus  obtained  were  very  small,  yellow  and  acicular.  They  evi- 
dently were  berberin,  as  the  following  tests  will  show.  They 
were  soluble  in  water  and  also  in  alcohol,  and  insoluble  in 
ether.  They  dissolved  readily  in  sulphuric  acid,  producing 
an  olive  green  color.  With  nitric  acid  they  produced  a  blood 
red  color.  The  sulphate  of  berberin,  as  prepared  above,  was 
precipitated  from  its  solution  by  iodide  and  bromide  of  potassium, 
and  also  by  bi-chloride  of  mercury.  The  taste  of  the  sulphate 
and  also  of  the  isolated  alkaloid  was  extremely  bitter.  Ber-' 
berin,  then,  is  the  bitter  and  tonic  principle  of  the  bark  of  the 
root  of  Ptelea  trifoliata,  upon  which  its  virtue  depends. — St. 
Louis  Med.  Reporter,  May,  1867. 
MANUFACTURE  OF  BORAX. 
Instead  of  the  old  process  of  neutralizing  the  Tuscany  acid 
with  soda  and  water,  the  English  manufacturers  now  perform 
this  operation  in  a  reverboratory  furnace,  where  the  acid,  with 
the  required  quantity  of  soda-ash,  is  brought  into  fusion,  and 
