Baric  of  Prinos  Verticillata,  etc.  251 
when  the  solution  may  be  again  concentrated,  until  a  pellicle  forms. 
The  successive  crops  of  crystals  are  first  drained,  then  dried  on  blot- 
ting paper  laid  upon  porous  bricks  with  a  very  gentle  heat. 
New  York,  May  13,  1873. 
ON  THE  YELLOW  COLOR  OF  THE  BARK  OF  PRINOS  VERTI- 
CILL  ATA. 
By  William  J.  Lerch. 
From  the  author's  inaugural  essay  we  extract  the  following  ex- 
periments, undertaken  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  whether  the- 
yellow  color  of  the  bark  is  due  to  berberina  ;  the  probability  of  which 
had  been  suggested  by  Professor  Maisch. 
A  decoction  was  made  by  boiling  sixteen  troy  ounces  of  the  bark, 
coarsely  powdered,  repeatedly  with  water ;  on  mixing  the  solutions 
and  filtering  I  obtained  a  dark  yellow  colored  liquid,  with  a  strong 
odor  and  taste  of  the  drug,  and  very  prone  to  froth.  This  decoction 
I  evaporated  to  the  consistence  of  an  extract,  which  I  digested  in  hot 
alcohol  in  the  proportion  of  half  a  pint  to  the  pound  of  bark,  and 
again  filtered.  To  this  I  added  one-fourth  of  its  bulk  of  water  and 
recovered  most  of  the  alcohol  by  distillation  ;  to  the  remaining  liquid,, 
while  still  hot,  I  added  sulphuric  acid  in  slight  excess  and  set  it. 
aside  for  several  days,  hoping  to  obtain  crystals  of  sulphate  of  ber- 
berina, but  failed. 
I  then  repeated  the  above  experiment  twice,  using  muriatic  acict 
and  nitric  successively,  but  with  similar  results. 
I  then  exhausted  a  portion  of  the  bark  by  boiling  it  with  hydrate 
of  lime  and  water  several  times,  mixed  the  decoctions  filtered,  pre- 
cipitated the  lime  with  sulphate  of  zinc  and  again  filtered,  evaporated 
this  to  the  consistence  of  an  extract,  treated  it  with  alcohol,  filtered, 
evaporated  the  alcoholic  solution,  treated  this  with  boiling  water ;  on 
cooling  I  failed  to  get  any  crystals.  I  then  added  to  this  sulphuric 
acid,  but  with  the  same  result. 
I  then  exhausted  another  portion  of  bark  with  alcohol,  distilled  off 
most  of  the  alcohol,  evaporated  the  residue  to  dryness,  treated  this, 
with  boiling  water,  filtered,  and  added  muriatic  acid  in  slight  excess, 
and  set  aside  as  before,  but  again  failed  to  get  any  crystals. 
The  above  experiments  were  all  repeated  several  times,  with  simi- 
lar results.  The  bark  used  was  a  very  fine  article,  collected  late  in 
the  fall,  and  of  the  fourth  year's  growth. 
