58o 
Chemical  Notes. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
Nov.,  1890. 
higher  homologue  of  cholesterin.  On  treating  the  flowers  now  with 
alcohol,  the  author  obtained  a  crystalline  glucoside  in  small  quan- 
tity. The  alcoholic  extract  furthermore  contains  an  alkaloid,  chrys- 
anthemine  which  is  very  soluble  in  water.  This  solution  can  be 
evaporated  on  the  water-bath  without  affecting  the  alkaloid  ;  if  pure, 
this  forms  a  colorless  syrupy  liquor.  Most  of  the  salts  are  not  crys- 
talline, and  are  soluble  in  water,  alcohol  and  ether.  The  charac- 
teristic salt  is  the  gold  chloride  double  salt ;  it  crystallizes  in  small 
golden-yellow  needles,  very  soluble  in  hot,  and  slightly  so  in  cold 
water,  easily  soluble  in  alcohol  and  also  in  a  mixture  of  equal 
volumes  of  alcohol  and  ether.  Potassiobismuthic  iodide  turns  the 
salts  to  an  orange-color,  while  potassio-mercuric  iodide  gives  a  yel- 
lowish-white color.  Platinum  chloride,  picric  acid,  tannin  and  phos- 
photungstic  acid  produce  no  precipitate.  The  formula  of  the  gold 
salt  is  CuH30O3No  Au2Cl,;,  the  hydrochloride  then  having  the  formula 
At  the  meeting  of  physicians  and  scientists  at  Bremen,  August 
15 — 20,  1890,  Dr.  H.  Thorns  [Chem.  Zeitg.,  1890,  p.  1284)  reported 
an  analysis  of  the  foregoing  flowers.  He  succeeded  in  isolating  an 
ethereal  oil ;  a  volatile  acid;  a  wax;  a  non-volatile,  balsam- like 
acid ;  chlorophyll ;  a  resin  acid  ;  tannin ;  an  alkaloid  (see  above) ; 
a  glucoside,  and  sugar.  Physiological  experiments,  in  which  Blatta 
orientalis  was  the  subject,  showed  that  the  petroleum  ether  extract, 
consisting  of  the  ethereal  oil  and  volatile  acid,  had  the  toxic  effect. 
The  non-volatile  acid,  although  being  disagreeable  to  the  insects, 
had  no  toxic  effect,  while  the  glucoside  seemed  to  be  relished  by 
the  roaches.  Besides  these  the  experiments  of  Schlagdenhauffen 
and  Reeb  (see  this  volume,  p.  456)  also  show  that  the  toxic  pro- 
perty resides  in  the  volatile  acid.  Dr.  Thorns  gives  the  following 
method  as  furnishing  a  criterion  for  the  value  of  this  insect  powder. 
The  powder,  which  has  been  dried  at  ioo°  C,  is  exhausted  in  an 
extraction  apparatus  with  petroleum  ether,  the  solvent  evaporated 
and  the  extract  heated  to  8o°  C.  until  constant  in  weight.  The 
residue  thus  obtained  is  brownish-yellow  in  color,  has  the  consis- 
tency of  a  salve  and  a  strong  odor  of  the  flowers.  From  one  speci- 
men the  author  obtained  5-34  per  cent,  of  residue;  from  others  the 
amount  of  residue  was  between  5-003  and  3-89  per  cent.  Besides 
this  assay,  the  microscopical  examination  and  the  estimation  of  the 
ash  are  necessary  to  obtain  the  information  whether  or  not  the  insect 
powder  is  adulterated. 
