554 
Chemical  Notes. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharnu 
Nov.,  1879. 
The  galactose  and  lactoglucose,  resulting  from  the  decomposition  of 
lactose,  were  freed  from  acid  and  carefully  evaporated  to  dryness. 
They  were  then  treated  with  three  parts  of  acetic  anhydrid  and  yielded  a 
body  having  all  the  properties  of  octacetylated  milk-sugar.  This,  on 
decomposition  with  caustic  baryta,  yielded  pure  lactose,  possessing  the 
same  crystalline  form,  optical  rotatory  power  and  other  properties  as 
the  natural  material.  —  Comptes  Rendus,  Sept.  1st,  1879. 
Study  of  the  Chlorophyll  Coloring  Matter. — After  treating  leaves  of 
grass  for  several  days  with  ether,  and  thus  extracting  the  wax,  Hoppe- 
Seyler  has  obtained,  with  hot  alcohol,  a  solution  of  two  coloring  mat- 
ters, both  of  which  may  be  easily  gotten  crystallized.  One  of  these, 
difficultly  soluble  in  alcohol,  and  not  very  soluble  in  ether,  separates  out 
on  moderate  concentration  in  quadratic  tablets  of  greenish-white  color 
and  silvery  lustre  ;  the  other  is  gotten  in  microscopic  needles,  dark- 
green  by  reflected  and  brown  by  transmitted  light  on  evaporating  tQ' 
dryness  and  taking  up  the  residue  in  ether  or  hot  alcohol.  The  first 
compound  is  evidently  the  erythrophyll  described  by  Bougarel,  but  the 
second  has  not  been  described  as  yet.  Its  crystals  have  the  consistency 
of  soft  wax,  and  are  very  difficultly  soluble  in  cold  alcohol,  more 
readily  in  hot  alcohol,  and  very  easily  soluble  in  ether  or  chloroform.. 
Its  solutions  show  the  characteristic  absorption  spectrum  of  chlorophyll 
as  well  as  its  reddish  fluorescence.  Analyses  show  it  to  contain  :  C 
73-4,  H  97,  N  5*62,  O  9*57,  P  1*37,  Mg  0-34  per  cent.  Whether 
the  phosphorus  and  magnesium  belong  to  the  coloring  matter  itself  or 
whether  in  spite  of  treatment  with  alcohol,  crystallization,  etc.,  traces 
of  lecithin  and  similar  impurities  remain,  the  author  cannot  say.  The 
crystals  show  no  impurities  under  the  microscope.  To  this  coloring 
matter,  the  relations  of  which  to  chlorophyll  must  be  very  inti- 
mate, Hoppe-Seyler  gives  the  name  chlorophyllan.  The  properties  of 
the  new  coloring  matter  will  be  farther  studied. — Ber.  der  Ch.  Ges.y 
xii,  p.  1555. 
George  Fraude  communicates  additional  results  obtained  in  the  study 
of  the  alkaloid  Aspldosspermia  contained  in  Aspidossperma  quebracho- 
bianco,  Schlechtd.  He  finds,  as  the  result  of  repeated  analyses  of  very 
pure  material,  that  C22H30N2O2  expresses  its  composition.  One  part 
of  the  finely-pulverized  crystallized  aspidosspermia  is  soluble  in  6,000 
parts  of  water  at  I4°C.  The  solution  possesses  a  distictly  bitter  taste. 
One  part  is  soluble  in  48  parts  99  per  cent,  alcohol,  at  I4°C.  One 
