498 
Catechu  and  Gambier. 
Am.  Jour.  Pbarm. 
Oct.,  1888. 
of  each  will  be  given  as  a  basis,  although  a  number  of  others 
were  partly  examined  in  studying  adulterations  and  searching  for 
catechin. 
ISTo.  1.  Cutch  "  S.  M."  brand,  in  good  repute  in  U.  S. 
No.  2.  Cutch,  "  M.  M.'^  brand,  in  good  repute  in  England,  and 
given  me  by  a  Bradford  dyer. 
No.  3.  Cutch,  brand  not  known,  purchased  of  a  wholesale  drug 
firm  in  Philadelphia. 
No.  4.  Gambier,  in  masses,  from  a  wholesale  drug  firm  of  Phila- 
delphia. 
No.  5.  Gambier,  in  cubes,  dark,  direct  from  importer. 
No.  6.  Gambier,  in  cubes,  light,  direct  from  importer. 
One  gram  of  each  was  powdered  and  extracted  in  a  ToUens  appara- 
tus, successively  with  boiling  stronger  ether  and  boiling  absolute  alco- 
hol. The  residue  was  percolated  with  cold  distilled  water  as  long  as 
anything  dissolved.  The  following  is  a  summary  of  results  in  per 
cent. 
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
Soluble  in  stronger  Ether.... 
Soluble  in  Absolute  Alcohol- 
Total  by  Ether  and  Alcohol. 
Total  Solubility  
33-30 
22-08 
33-65 
22-63 
25-60 
31-78 
45-59 
26-80 
36-45 
32-28 
40-20 
28-25 
55-38 
27-40 
56-28 
29-01 
57-38 
20-50 
72-39 
1013 
68-73 
15-20 
68-45 
16-05 
82-78 
85-29 
77-88 
82-52 
83-93 
84-50 
It  is  usually  stated  in  the  books  that  the  important  constituents  of 
these  two  drugs  are  catechin,  soluble  in  ether,  and  catechu-tannic 
acid,  soluble  in  water  and  alcohol,  but  insoluble  in  ether.  If  this 
be  true,  we  would  have  a  very  ready  method  of  determining  the 
value  of  a  sample  ;  for,  by  simply  adding  those  portions  soluble 
in  ether  and  alcohol,  we  would  have  the  total  available  portion. 
That  soluble  in  water  after  the  above  treatment,  and  so  given  in 
the  chart,  is  mucilage  with  a  part  of  the  inorganic  constituents,  and 
forms  no  part  of  the  most  important  pharmaceutical  preparation — 
the  tincture. 
The  sum  by  the  first  two  solvents  very  closely  indicates  that  which 
would  be  dissolved  in  making  the  tincture,  but  as  will  be  shown  it 
does  not  indicate  the  astringent  value  of  the  samples.  A  more  accur- 
ate method  for  estimating  the  catechin,  is  to  extract  it  by  agitating  the 
