THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JULY,  1888. 
ON  THE  OCCUKKENCE  OF  SOLID  HYDEOCARBONS 
IN  PLANTS. 
A  Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy. 
By  Helen  C.  De  S.  Abbott  and  Henry  Trimble. 
When  many  plants  of  the  higher  botanical  orders  are  exhausted 
with  petroleum-ether,  crystalline  compounds  may  be  separated  from 
the  extracts  which  have  not  been  noticed  previously  to  these  investi- 
gations. These  compounds  are  also  obtained  when  alcohol  or  ether 
is  used  as  a  solvent;  but  it  is  preferable,  on  account  of  the  greater 
number  of  constituents  extracted  by  these  menstrua,  to  employ  petro- 
leum-ether, and  thus  avoid  certain  difficulties  of  separation.  Among 
the  plants  in  which  up  to  this  time  these  compounds  have  been  dis- 
covered may  be  mentioned :  Cascara  amarga.  Phlox  Carolina  and  the 
Phlox  species,  Anthemis  nobilis,  and  in  different  species  of  the  follow- 
ing natural  orders :  Eubiacese,  Khodoracese,  Eupatoriese  and  other 
Compositse. 
The  crystals  from  these  petroleum-ether  extracts  first  attracted 
attention  in  the  winter  of  1884.  Samples  of  "  chichipate  bark 
which  yielded,  on  powdering,  about  two  hundred  grammes  were  then 
obtained  and  submitted  to  chemical  examination.  This  bark  was 
subsequently,  from  chemical  analysis,  identified  as  Cascara  amarga.^ 
Other  investigations  prevented  the  announcement  of  this  work 
until  some  time  later,  under  the  title  of  "  Preliminary  Analysis  of  a 
Honduras  Plant  named  ^  Chichipate.'  ^  In  this  paper  a  new  crystal- 
line compound  was  described  aud  identified  by  its  phy^sical  and 
1  Jour.  Franklin  Inst.,  Vol.  CXXIV,  p.  1,  Abbott. 
2  By  Helen  C.  De  S.  Abbott.  Amer.  Assoc.  Adv.  of  Science,  Buffalo,  Aug., 
1886. 
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