Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Aug.,  1886. 
Bark  of  Fraxinus  Americana. 
371 
light  brownish  crystals  were  obtained,  containing  calcium  sulphate 
and  giving  very  slight  reactions  with  Mayer's  reagent  and  with  solu- 
tion of  iodine.  By  precipitating  the  filtrate  from  the  lime  precipi- 
tate with  tannin,  and  decomposing  with  sulphuric  acid,  a  calcium  salt 
was  obtained,  but  no  indications  of  an  alkaloid. 
A  tincture  was  made  with  20  per  cent,  alcohol,  and  evaporated; 
the  residue  treated  with  strong  alcohol  left  a  gummy  matter  behind, 
the  filtrate  was  concentrated,  mixed  with  water,  and  tested  with  tan- 
nin, iodine  and  picric  acid,  which  did  not  affect  the  clear  liquid;  but 
Mayer's  reagent  gave  a  faint  cloudiness.  On  precipitating  the  liquid 
with  lead  acetate  and  freeing  the  filtrate  from  lead,  it  was  free  from 
bitterness,  yielded  no  reaction  with  the  usual  reagents  for  alkaloids, 
and  no  alkaloid  could  be  obtained  from  it. 
A  tincture  made  with  15  per  cent,  alcohol  gave  results  similar  to 
the  preceding.  On  treating  the  precipitate  by  lead  acetate  with  ether, 
and  evaporating  the  latter,  a  yellowish,  apparently  crystalline  residue 
was  obtained,  which  was  soluble  in  alcohol  and  water  and  had  the 
odor  and  taste  of  the  drug. 
A  tincture  made  with  strong  alcohol  was  concentrated,  mixed  with 
water,  which  precipitated  a  light-colored  resin,  and  the  filtrate  vari- 
ously treated  without  yielding  an  alkaloid.  It  was  noticed  that  ferric 
chloride  caused  a  coloration  similar  to  that  produced  by  gallic  acid; 
and  that  nitric  acid  in  excess  caused  a  blood  red  color  both  in  aqueous 
and  alcoholic  solutions. 
The  bark  collected  by  the  author  showed  the  same  behavior  as  the 
commercial  bark. 
Daniel  W.  Cahill,  Ph.G.,  collected  a  quantity  of  the  root  bark  and 
stem  bark,  which  were  deprived  of  the  corky  layers  and  analyzed 
according  to  the  plan  of  Dragenclorff,  with  the  following  results : 
Root  Bark.   Trunk  Bark. 
Organic  matter  extracted  by  petroleum  benzin             -60  -20 
"           "         "  strong  ether                    -36  "36 
"         "           "         "  absolute  alcohol  14-68  11-00 
"         "           "         "  water  10'33  .914 
"          "         "  dilute  alkali                   -89  .83 
"          "         "  dilute  acid                   4*20  2- 16 
Loss  by  bleaching                                                   3'26  2'91 
Moisture                                                              676  7-23 
Ash  i                  5  92  5'40 
Residue    45'95  56*09 
Loss                                                                    7  05  4  68 
