582 
Salix  Luctda. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\       Dec,  1891. 
The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  results  obtained  by  extracting 
the  finely  powdered  bark  successively  with  the  different  solvents : 
Per  Cent. 
Petroleum  ether,   0*37 
Stronger  ether.   1-30 
Absolute  alcohol,   4-39 
Water,    4-09 
Sodium  hj'drate  (-2  per  cent.),   4-04 
Hydrochloric  acid  (1  per  cent.),   4-48 
Chlorine  water,   13*82 
Cellulose,    .  .  .    37  "6o 
Ash,                                                                                  .  5-40 
Moisture,   970  I 
Loss  and  undetermined,   14-81 
100  "oo 
The  petroleum  ether  extract  was  found  to  consist  of  a  trace  of 
volatile  oil,  wax  and  caoutchouc. 
Stronger  ether  extracted  an  organic  acid  resin  and  sufficient  sali- 
cin  to  give  a  red  color  with  sulphuric  acid. 
Absolute  alcohol  removed  an  aromatic  brown  resin,  tannin  and 
salicin. 
The  usual  plant  constituents  were  obtained  from  the  remaining 
solvents. 
In  order  to  determine  whether  a  satisfactory  yield  of  salicin  could 
be  obtained  from  this  bark,  a  number  of  assays  were  made. 
(1)  A  decoction  of  the  sample  was  treated  with  lead  hydrate, 
filtered  and  the  filtrate  saturated  with  hydrogen  sulphide  and  the  lead 
sulphide  removed  by  filtration.  On  evaporation  no  salicin  was 
obtained. 
(2)  Thirty  grams  of  the  powder  were  extracted  with  boiling 
water,  twenty  grams  of  lime  stirred  in,  and  the  solution  filtered. 
The  filtrate  on  evaporation  yielded  but  few  crystals. 
(3)  A  hot  infusion  of  one  hundred  grams  of  the  powder  was 
treated  with  lime,  filtered  and  evaporated  rapidly  to  a  syrupy  con- 
sistence. The  residue  was  treated  successively  with  several  portions 
of  alcohol,  and  the  mixed  alcoholic  solutions  passed  through  animal 
charcoal.  On  concentrating  beautiful  crystals  of  salicin  were 
obtained,  amounting  to  1-09  per  cent. 
This  process  was  then  employed  for  further  assays,  by  which  0-30 
per  cent,  of  salicin  were  obtained  from  the  leaves  of  S.  lucida  ;  0-56 
1 
