Am.  Jour  Pharm.  1 
June  1, 1871.  J 
On  Baptisia  Tinctoria. 
251 
ON  BA.PTISIA  TINCTORIA. 
By  John  A.  Weaver. 
(Extracted  from  the  Author's  Inaugural  Essay.) 
[After  giving  a  short  botanical  description  of  the  plant,  the  author 
describes  the  root  and  its  medicinal  properties,  and  refers  to  the  ex- 
amination of  Mr.  B.  L.  Smedley  published  in  Vol.  XXXIV  of  this 
Journal,  1862,  page  311.  We  extract  the  following  from  Mr. 
Weaver's  experiments  :] 
Experiment  1st.  Fifty  troy  ounces  of  the  root  was  boiled  with 
successive  portions  of  water  acidulated  with  hydrochloric  acid,  until 
completely  exhausted.  The  decoctions  were  mixed,  strained,  and 
while  still  hot,  precipitated  by  a  dilute  milk  of  lime.  The  precipi- 
tate was  copious,  of  a  snuif-brown  color  and  disagreeable  odor.  The- 
mother-liquor  was  reddish  brown,  and  refused  to  yield  further  pre- 
cipitate by  the  addition  of  ammonia.  The  precipitate  was  thoroughly 
washed  with  water,  and  after  being  dried  and  powdered  was  digested 
in  boiling  alcohol  and  filtered.  The  alcohol  recovered  by  distillation 
left  a  brown,  viscid  mass  behind.  This  was  treated  with  water  acidu- 
lated with  sulphuric  acid,  boiled  a  few  minutes  with  animal  charcoal 
and  filtered.  The  result  was  a  clear,  colorless  liquid.  Upon  the 
addition  of  ammonia  to  a  small  portion  of  this,  a  white  precipitate 
was  obtained. 
This  was  the  process  followed  by  Mr.  Smedley,  and  this  the  "white 
feathery  precipitate"  supposed  by  him  to  be  the  alkaloid.  A  portion 
was  collected  and  dried,  found  to  be  insoluble  in  water,  alcohol  or 
chloroform.  It  was  inodorous,  had  but  little  taste  and  possessed  none 
of  the  properties  of  an  alkaloid.  Dissolved  in  water  acidulated  by 
hydrochloric  acid,  nearly  neutralized  with  ammonia,  and  oxalate  of 
ammonia  added,  a  white  precipitate  was  at  once  formed,  showing  the 
presence  of  lime.  To  ascertain  to  what  extent  it  was  composed  of 
this,  or  whether  it  contained  anything  else,  I  added  the  whole  of  the 
first  solution  to  an  equal  bulk  of  alcohol.  The  lime  being  insoluble 
in  this,  separated,  and  was  collected  on  a  filter ;  from  the  filtrate  the 
alcohol  was  recovered,  and  the  remaining  liquid  still  gave  a  precipi- 
tate with  ammonia.  This  was  white,  inodorous  and  tasteless.  Ig- 
nited upon  platinum  foil,  it  did  not  volatilize,  but  swelled  up  and  left 
a  spongy  charcoal  behind,  which,  on  being  heated  with  a  drop  of 
nitric  acid,  became  white. 
