236  Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica.  {^'^May'iim""'' 
cobalt-blue,  followed  by  reduction ;  by  ferric  chloride  green,  grad- 
ually forming  a  dingy-green  precipitate ;  by  potassium  permanganate 
dark-green  with  blue  fluorescence,  changing  on  the  further  addition  of  a 
little  sulphuric  acid  to  indigo-blue.  These  compounds  have  a  com- 
position very  similar  to  that  of  methyl-sesculetin  ;  but  the  latter  pre- 
pared from  sesculetin  melts  at  184°  and  is  not  colored  green  by  ferric 
chloride.  Henschke  did  not  succeed  in  obtaining  from  the  extract  a 
notable  quantity  of  scopolin ;  but  by  boiling  the  extract  with  acid  the 
yield  of  scopoletin  was  increased  to  0.156  per  cent. 
Commercial  rotoine  {Arehiv,  1888,  p.  211-214)  was  ascertained  by 
Henschke  to  be  not  Langgaard's  alkaloid,  but  simply  the  soda  soap 
of  the  fat  contained  in  the  Japanese  scopolia  root. 
Scopolia  Hardnackiana. — The  cultivated  root,  collected  in  May, 
contains  an  alkaloid  which  according  to  Ernst  Schmidt  [Arehiv,  1888, 
p.  215)  is  identical  with  hyoscyamine;  a  fluorescent  compound,  possi- 
bly scopoletin,  was  likewise  present.  Atropine  and  hyoscine  could 
not  be  isolated  from  the  gold  double  salt. 
Asarum  europoeum,  Linne. — The  volatile  oil  has  been  examined  by 
A.  S.  F.  Petersen.  It  contains  aterpene  CjoHig  boiling  between  162° 
and  165°  C,  and  in  its  properties  agreeing  with  the  pinene  of  Wallach. 
The  principal  constituent  is  an  oil,  boiling  between  247°  and  250°, 
having  the  empirical  formula  CnHj^Og  and  being  identical  with  the 
methyl-ether  of  eugenol,  which  has  hitherto  not  been  observed  in 
plants,  but  has  been  repeatedly  prepared  synthetically ;  by  oxidation 
with  potassium  permanganate  it  yields  dimethyl-protocatechuic  acid, 
and,  on  treatment  with  hydriodic  acid,  methyl-iodide  is  produced.  ISTear 
300°  a  green  or  blue  oil  is  obtained  ;  the  green  fractions  contain  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  the  stearopten  asaron  (boiling  point  296°),  the  pres- 
ence of  which  materially  interferes  with  the  investigation  of  the  higher 
boiling  portion. 
In  the  volatile  oil  of  urn  canadense  Petersen  found  the  same  ter- 
pene,  and  the  oil  boiling  between  245°  and  250°,  which  is  probably 
identical  with  the  asarin  of  Power ;  a  blue  oil  with  a  high  boiling- 
point  is  likewise  present,  and  compound  ethers  particularly  of 
acetic  acid,  which  are  absent  from  the  European  oil.  The  American 
oil  does  not  contain  asaron. — Arehiv  d.  Fhar.,  Feb.,  1888,  p.  89-123. 
Composition  of  Mastich. — Prof.  E.  Reichardt  reports  {Arehiv  d.  Phar. 
1888,  p.  154-163)  the  results  of  investigations  undertaken  by  Klemm 
with  recently  obtained  clear  and  with  old  dusty  mastich.    The  specific 
