Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  i 
Feb.,  1890.  j 
Seeds  of  Calycanthus  Glaucus. 
97 
was  ground  to  a  fine  flour  and  passed  through  a  ^  mm.  mesh 
sieve.    The  following  results  were  obtained: 
Kernels. 
Pods. 
Seed  Hulls. 
—  

Unextracted 
Extracted. 
Moisture,  
Petroleum  spirit  extract,  . 
9  03 
ir'39 
5'36 
3'52 
3'Q7 
I-22 
47-08 
3 '64 
Ether  extract,  
Absolute  alcohol  extract, 
3'2.S 
0-30 
1*29 
0-31 
173 
0-54 
969 
*  7 '33 
80  per  cent,  alcohol  ex- 
tract,   
i-87 
1*09 
2-48 
633 
Fibre  insoluble  in  dilute 
acid  and  alkali,  .... 
2926 
307I 
i-36 
2-85 
Ash,  
4' 24 
172 
1-08 
4-69 
Albuminoids,  
5-25 
2-63 
23-62 
42-31 
Digestible   fibre,  starch, 
etc.,  by  difference,     .  . 
42-26 
50-40 
8-05 
13  00 
A  considerable  quantity  of  albuminous  matter  is  extracted 
t  by  alcohol.  The  almost  entire  absence  of  starch  is  a  note- 
worthy characteristic  of  calycanthus  seed,  a  cooled  decoction 
giving  only  a  faint  reaction  with  solution  of  iodine.  The 
percentage  of  oil  is  very  large ;  Dr.  Eccles  reported  39  per 
cent.,  but  the  author  found  over  47  per  cent.  The  seeds  con- 
tain nearly  twice  as  much  of  albuminoids  as  wheat.  The 
quantity  of  sugar  (dextrose,  sucrose  and  dextrin)  is  also  large, 
and  it  is  easy  to  see  why  the  "bubby"  berries  are  greedily 
sought  after  by  cattle. 
The  oil  from  calycanthus  seed  has  a  faint  yellow  color,  and 
a  peculiar  odor.  Compared  with  water  at  the  boiling  point 
the  specific  gravity  is  '9058  for  the  extracted  and  purified  oil^ 
and  '91 10  for  the  expressed  oil.  It  is  free  from  volatile  acids. 
The  iodine  absorption  for  the  crude  expressed  oil  was  129-53, 
and  for  the  purified  extracted  oil  1 28*66  per  cent.  The  fatty 
acids  crystallized  at  12-5.  The  refractive  index  of  the  oil 
determined  by  the  Pullfrick  refractometer  at  28J  is  1,47351, 
the  index  of  pure  water  at  the  same  degree  1  "3333^- 
The  alkaloid  in  calycanthus  seed  was  discovered  by  Dr.  R . 
G.  Eccles,  of  Brooklyn  (  Western  Druggist ;  Druggists'  Circular  ; 
Proceedings  Amer.  Phar.  Assoc.,  1888,  pp.  84  and  382).  The 
author  obtained  this  aklaloid  from  the  extracted  oil,  by  wash- 
