386 
Cannabis  Indica. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Aug,  1S91. 
The  absolute  alcohol  extract  amounted  to  -72  per  cent.,  which 
was  found  to  be  resinous  in  character.  When,  however,  it  was 
treated  with  water  a  small  quantity  of  something  was  dissolved 
which  reddened  litmus  paper,  but  was  not  affected  by  ferric 
chloride. 
Water  proved  to  be  the  best  solvent  of  the  drug,  extracting 
74-50  per  cent.  1570  per  cent,  of  this  was  glucose,  18-40  of  non- 
reducible sugar  and  -6o  per  cent,  of  mucilage.  The  remainder  of 
the  aqueous  extract  appeared  to  consist  of  sinistrin,  and  to  this 
constituent  is  due  the  resemblance  to  squill. 
The  dilute  alkali  extract  of  the  drug  amounted  to  5-00  per  cent., 
which  was  nearly  all  precipitated  by  alcohol  and  acetic  acid,  indicat- 
ing it  to  be  largely  composed  of  albuminoid  matter. 
The  dilute  hydrochloric  acid  extract  consisted  of  3-50  per  cent,  of 
calcium  oxalate  and  -50  per  cent,  extractive. 
Chlorine  water  extracted  2-34  per  cent,  of  lignin.  There  remained 
4  90  per  cent,  of  cellulose.  A  special  examination  was  made  of  the 
sinistrin  by  treating  about  50  grams  of  the  coarsely  powdered  drug 
with  100  cc.  of  hot  water.  The  mixture  was  strained  and  the  same 
operation  repeated  twice.  The  resulting  aqueous  extract  was  evap- 
orated to  a  syrupy  consistence  and  treated  with  four  volumes  of 
absolute  alcohol  which  precipitated  the  carbohydrates,  other  than 
sugars.  This  precipitate  was  then  rapidly  filtered  off  and  dissolved 
in  water  and  precipitated  with  95  per  cent,  alcohol  to  remove  muci- 
lage. The  filtrate  from  the  mucilage  was  evaporated  to  dryness,  a 
portion  dissolved  in  water  reduced  Fehling's  solution  and  was  not 
precipitated  by  basic  lead  acetate.  Another  portion  dissolved  in  40 
per  cent,  alcohol  was  precipitated  by  saturated  solution  of  barium 
hydrate.  These  properties,  together  with  the  physical  one  of 
"  puffing  up  "  when  the  solution  was  evaporated  to  dryness,  exactly 
as  does  a  solution  of  sinistrin  from  squill,  confirmed  the  previous 
conclusions.  Several  samples  of  the  drug  were  obtained  from 
different  sources  and  all  gave  indications  of  containing  sinistrin. 
CANNABIS  INDICA. 
Does  it  Contain  an  Alkaloid  ? 
By  Henry  F.  Smith,  Ph.C. 
This  is  a  drug  from  which  the  alkaloid  has  long  been  sought,  and 
numerous  investigations  have  been  made.    Many  have  disputed  the 
presence  of  an  alkaloid. 
