192  Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  { AmAp?n,ri87h9*ttn" 
Aspidospermia,  an  Alkaloid  of  Quebracho-Bark. — The  bark  of 
Aspidosperma  quebracho  (Schlechtendahl),  nat.  ord.  Apocynecs,  a  tree  indi- 
genous to  the  province  of  Santiago  and  the  vicinity  of  Catarmarcat 
used  for  many  years  as  a  fever  medicine,  and  considered  by  the  physi- 
cians at  Tucuman  almost  as  efficacious  as  cinchona-bark,  is  described 
by  Dingier  as  being  about  1  to  2  cm.  in  thickness,  covered  with  a  thin 
corky  layer  of  a  brownish-yellow  color.  A  fresh  transverse  section  is 
more  or  less  red,  has  dark  yellowish-brown  irregular  concentric  and 
somewhat  confluent  lines  (suberous  lamella)  and  whitish  spots  [scleren- 
chyma  cells).  The  inner  bark  is  pale  yellow  and  coarsely  fibrous,  the 
bast  bundles  being  oblique  and  irregular,  running  in  different  directions, 
Aspidospermia,  the  alkaloid,  was  obtained  by  Fraude  by  extracting  1-5 
kg.  of  finely-contused  bark  in  a  percolator  with  a  mixture  of  5  liters  of 
water  and  100  g.  concentrated  H2S04,  precipitating  the  dark  brown 
percolate  with  concentrated  solution  of  lead  acetate  in  slight  excess,  in 
order  to  remove  tannic  acid  and  most  of  the  coloring  matter,  filterings 
and,  after  removing  lead  by  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  treating  with  sodium 
carbonate  until  alkaline.  The  precipitate  was  collected,  dried,  extracted 
with  strong  alcohol,  boiled  with  animal  charcoal,  again  filtered,  the  greater 
portion  of  the  alcohol  removed  by  distillation,  and  an  equal  bulk  of  water 
added  to  the  remainder,  when,  on  slow  evaporation,  the  alkaloid  separated 
in  brown  crystals,  which  were  purified  by  treatment  with  animal  charcoal 
and  recrystallization.  The  alkaloid  crystallizes  in  small  white  glossy 
prisms,  is  readily  soluble  in  alcohol  and  ether,  scarcely  in  water,  and 
melts  at  205  to  2c6°C.  Its  composition  is  either  C22H3uN202  or 
C22H28N202.—  Ber.  d.  deutsch.  Chem.  Ges.,  1878,  p.  2189. 
The  Wax  of  Ficus  Gummiflua  is  used  for  illuminating  purposes 
by  the  natives  of  several  districts  of  Java,  where  the  plant  is  indigenous, 
and  consists  of  a  brittle,  scaly,  chocolate-colored  mass,  softening  when 
heated,  becoming  adhesive  and  melting  between  60  to  jo°C.-)  boiling 
water  extracts  from  the  wax  a  large  quantity  of  brown  coloring  matter, 
which  is  entirely  precipitated  by  solution  of  subacetate  of  lead.  Boiling 
alcohol  dissolves  considerable  of  the  wax,  which  deposits  again  on 
cooling.  Fr.  Kessel  separated  the  wax  previously  decolorized  into  two 
constituents  by  dissolving  in  ether  and  adding  alcohol  until  the  precip- 
itate ceased  to  be  redissolved  ;  one  constituent  is  readily  and  the  other 
sparingly  soluble  in  ether;   the  latter  amounts  to  about  1-20  of  the 
