AmsiiDtr'iS6arm'}       Examinations  of  American  Drugs.  419 
pentine,  and  consisted  mainly  of  wax  saponifiable  by  alcoholic  solution 
of  soda.  The  powdered  bark  now  gave  with  ether  7-65  per  cent,  of 
hard  greenish  extract  of  which  nearly  two-thirds  was  soluble  in  water, 
this  portion  containing  tannin  but  no  alkaloid  or  glucoside ;  the  re- 
maining resin  was  soluble  in  alcohol.  Absolute  alcohol  extracted  from 
the  remaining  powder  6*4  percent,  of  soluble  matter,  fully  two-thirds 
of  which  was  soluble  in  water,  and  the  remainder  in  ammonia ;  tannin 
and  a  little  sugar  were  found  to  be  present,  but  no  indication  of  the 
presence  of  an  alkaloid  or  other  crystalline  principle  wTas  obtained. 
The  watery  extract  amounted  to  5*74  per  cent.,  of  which  12  per  cent, 
was  glucose,  besides  mucilage  and  other  principles.  Soda  solution 
extracted  1*75  per  cent.,  including  *25  per  cent,  of  albuminoids,  and 
dilute  acid  took  up  4  per  cent.,  leaving  half  its  weight  of  ash.  The 
bleached  cellulose  weighed  57*61  per  cent.  The  total  amount  of  sugar, 
determined  by  Fehling's  solution,  was  1*4  per  cent.,  and  the  tanninT 
weighed  as  gelatin  precipitate,  was  6'75  per  cent.  The  search  for  an 
alkaloid  or  glucoside  gave  negative  results. 
Smilax  rotundi folia,  Lin. — It  has  a  creeping  pale  yellowish  rhizome 
many  feet  long,  about  J  inch  thick,  with  internodes  4  to  6  inches  in 
length,  the  nodes  considerably  thickened  and  each  marked  by  a  prom- 
inent brownish  triangular  leaf  scale,  and  beset  with  some  fine  light- 
colored  rootlets ;  the  rootlets  are  more  numerous  near  the  growing  end 
and  are  of  a  brown  color.  The  dried  rhizome  is  brittle,  has  little  or  no 
odor  and  has  a  somewhat  bitter  and  slightly  acrid  taste.  Arthur  H. 
Cohn,  Ph.G.,  collected  the  rhizome  for  investigation,  and  obtained 
from  the  air-dry  powder  2*3  per  cent,  of  ash,  and  by  treatment  with: 
benzin  *05  per  cent,  of  wax ;  with  ether  *5  per  cent,  of  resin,  and  with 
alcohol  2*8  per  cent,  of  extract,  the  latter  probably  containing  a  gluco- 
side, as  indicated  by  the  reactions.  More  of  this  principle  was  shown 
to  be  in  the  aqueous  infusion,  but  it  was  not  isolated.  The  presence 
of  gummy  matter,  sugar,  pectin,  starch,  etc.,  was  ascertained ;  also  the 
absence  of  calcium  oxalate. 
Equisetum  hyemale,  Lin.,  is  to  some  extent  employed  as  a  remedy 
in  dropsical  affections.  Frank  J.  Young,  Ph.G.,  has  known  it  to  be 
prescribed  in  infusion  together  with  digitalis  and  potassium  acetate ; 
but  from  the  results  of  his  analysis  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
effects  of  the  medicine  would  have  been  the  same  if  the  equisetum  had 
been  omitted.  The  air-dry  drug  yielded  18*2  per  cent,  of  ash,  con- 
sisting mostly  of  silica.    Petroleum  benzin  exhausted  from  the  pow- 
