ON  EXTRACT  OF  GENTIAN. 
175 
should  be  guarded  against.  He  stated  that  the  juice  of  the  leaves  was,  by 
those  qualified  to  judge,  considered  to  be  more  highly  elaborated  than  is 
that  of  the  stalks,  and  hence  the  direction  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  ;  yet  he  saw- 
no  objection  to  "  the  leaves  and  flowering  tops/7  as  suggested  by  Mr.  Squire, 
provided  it  was  not  construed  to  mean  the  whole  plant. 
The  last  point  which  Dr.  Redwood  noticed,  was  the  fact  that  the  extract 
of  leaves  of  Mr.  Squire  should  mould  after  the  albumen  was  removed,  thus 
shaking  confidence  in  this  process,  heretofore  strongly  advocated  by  Mr. 
Squire.  He  was  convinced  that  in  these  cases  the  removal  of  the  albumen 
had  only  been  partial.  He  (Dr.  R.)  had  never  been  fully  convinced  of  the 
efficacy  of  this  process,  and  was  now  inclined  to  favor  the  process  that  most 
European  and  American  Pharmacopoeias  had  adopted,  in  which  both  the 
chlorophyll  and  albumen  were  removed  from  the  extract,  and  when  so  pre- 
pared they  did  not  mould. 
The  President,  (Mr.  Squire,)  after  some  further  explanatory  remarks,  was 
followed  by  Mr.  Samuel  Gale,  who  had,  in  reading  Mr.  Squire's  paper,  un- 
derstood extract  A  to  be  of  the  stalks  only.  He  stated  that  at  the  labora- 
tory of  Bell  &  Co.,  these  extracts  were  made  by  evaporating  the  juices  atf 
120°  F.  by  a  water  bath  heat  and  that  such  extracts  even  when  from  the 
leaves  only,  keep  without  moulding. 
Mr.  Daniel  Hanbury  gathered  from  what  had  been  said  that  the  extract 
of  the  juice  of  the  small  stems,  flowers  and  fruit,  was  better  than  that 
made  from  the  leaves,  and  that  the  leaves  might  be  applied  for  other  pur- 
poses. 
After  a  few  remarks  by  Mr.  Mee,  Prof.  Bentley,  and  Mr.  Cutting,  the 
meeting  adjourned. 
ON  EXTRACT  OF  GENTIAN. 
By  Leibundgut. 
The  author  dissolved  4  oz.  of  extract  in  12  oz.  of  boiling  85 
per  cent,  alcohol  ;  after  cooling,  a  blackish  brown  residue  was 
separated  by  filtration,  which  reduced  Trommer's  test  ;  6  oz.  of 
water  were  added  to  the  filtrate  and  the  mixture  distilled  ;  the 
distillate  was  colorless,  and  possessed  a  neutral  reaction  and 
aromatic  odor  and  taste.  The  aqueous  residue  was,  after  filtra- 
tion, digested  with  animal  charcoal,  and  the  latter,  after  having 
been  washed  with  water,  was  exhausted  with  boiling  alcohol, 
which  on  evaporation  left  a  dark-yellow  sticky  residue  of  slight 
acid  reaction  and  peculiar  aromatic  odor,  and  reducing  the  oxide 
of  copper  from  Trommer's  test.  The  solution  in  cold  water  was 
clear,  and  became  slightly  turbid  by  subacetate  of  lead.  The 
