Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  i 
March,  1890.  / 
Pharmacognostica  I  No  ies. 
123 
Petroleumbenzin  extracted  8-6  per  cent,  of  yellow  fixed  oil,  and 
about  I  per  cent,  of  whitish  waxy  matter,  the  latter  being  insoluble 
in  ether.  The  alcohol  extract  amounted  to  15-9  per  cent.,  partly 
soluble  in  water ;  the  aqueous  solution,  when  concentrated,  yielded 
to  chloroform  the  bitter  principle  in  an  amorphous  condition.  The 
figures  obtained  differ  somewhat  from  those  reported  in  a  paper 
published  in  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  1885,  P-  I27- 
Amount  of  Alkaloid  in  Tea. — John  Hamilton  Small,  Ph.G.,  whose 
thesis  is  accompanied  by  specimens  of  the  leaves  and  of  a  flowering 
branch  of  the  tea  plant,  grown  in  Greenville,  S.  C,  has  gathered 
some  information  regarding  tea  culture  in  the  United  States,  which 
is  believed  will  play,  in  the  future,  an  important  part  in  the  agri- 
cultural interests  of  this  country.  The  greatest  obstacle  seems  to 
be  the  cost  of  labor  to  properly  pick  the  leaves  and  to  prepare  them 
for  the  market.  The  tea  plant  will  endure  a  much  lower  tempera- 
ture than  is  generally  supposed  ;  but  the  sudden  changes  of  our 
climate  prevent  it  from  being  grown  north  of  Maryland,  while 
farther  south  it  thrives  quite  well. 
Eight  commercial  samples  of  tea  were  examined  with  the  follow- 
ing results,  the  alkaloid  being  estimated  by  the  process  of  Paul 
and  Cownley  (see  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  1887,  p.  628)  : 
Commercial  Name.  Color.  Theme. 
Japan,  uncolored,  greenish  black,  1.79  per  cent. 
Japan,  colored,  bluish  green,  2*30  " 
India,  fine  white  top,   ....  black,  3*54  " 
Foochow,   black,  3-40  " 
Young  Hyson,  bluish  green,  3*26  " 
Congo,  black,  3*52  " 
Chinese  imperial,  .......  bluish  green,  2*85  " 
Formosa,  black,  •    ....  2-38  " 
Japanese  Aconite. — Eugene  George  Reig,  Ph.G.,  prepared  from 
this  drug  a  tincture  and  a  fluid  extract,  following  the  formulas  of  the 
U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  for  the  corresponding  aconite  preparations. 
Both  were  lighter  in  color  than  the  officinal  ones.  On  evaporating 
10  gm.  of  each  the  tincture  yielded  200  mgm.,  and  the  fluid  extract 
620  mgm.  of  extract.  The  alkaloids  were  determined  by  evapora- 
tion, taking  up  with  water,  removing  coloring  matter  by  ether,  ren- 
dering alkaline  by  sodium  carbonate,  and  extracting  the  alkaloids 
by  ether.  50  gm.  of  the  tincture,  representing  20  gm.  of  root,  yielded 
'67  mgm.  of  alkaloids.    40  ccm.  of  the  fluid  extract  (     40  gm.  of  the 
