32  Digitalis  Glucosidcs  and  Allied  Drugs  [Am.  Jour,  pharm. 
°  o      I    January,  1913. 
isolated  from  digitalis  leaves.  It  is  more  readily  soluble  in  cold 
( i  :  600 )  than  in  hot  water.  For  this  reason  it  is  partially  pre- 
cipitated on  heating  the  solution,  and  at  the  same  time  the  glucoside 
is  decomposed.  In  chloroform  it  is  soluble  without  alteration  in 
all  proportions.  If  gitalin  is  dissolved  at  ordinary  temperature  in 
1.5  parts  of  alcohol  and  0.75  parts  of  water  are  added,  on  shaking 
the  mixture  gitalin  hydrate  will  separate.  This  melts  at  75 0  C, 
and  is  only  slightly  soluble  in  alcohol  and  water  (1:3000).  On 
evaporating  the  alcoholic  solution  of  gitalin,  anhydrogitalin  is 
formed;  it  appears  at  first  chiefly  as  an  amorphous  body,  but  on 
recrystallisation  from  alcohol  it  can  be  obtained  in  crystals  melting 
at  255 0  C.  Gitalin,  and  also  anhydrogitalin,  give  a  permanent 
violet  color  with  Kiliani's  reagent,  similar  to  digitalinum  verum. 
With  Keller's  "  layering"  test  gitalin  gives  an  indigo  color  with 
the  glacial  acetic  acid  and  a  violet  ring  at  the  juncture  of  the 
glacial  acetic  acid  and  the  sulphuric  acid. 
Digitalinum  Geirmanicum,15  obtained  from  digitalis  seeds,  is 
essentially  a  mixture  of  digitalin  Schmiedeberg,  digitonin  and 
digitalein.  It  dissolves  in  water  and  alcohol,  but  is  practically 
insoluble  in  chloroform.  (Kiliani,  Archiv  der  Pharmazie,  1895, 
299.) 
In  order  to  obtain  a  clearer  view  of  the  subject,  those  sub- 
stances of  digitalis  with  which  we  have  already  become  acquainted, 
their  synonyms  and  their  derivatives  are  enumerated 16  in  the 
following  remarks  and  briefly  dealt  with  on  the  basis  of  the  con- 
siderations mentioned  above  or  contained  in  the  literature : 
Acrodigitalins  are,  according  to  Ludwig,  those  digitalis  substances 
which  do  not  possess  the  characteristics  of  glucosides.  (Archiv 
der  Pharmazie,  Vol.  194,  p.  213.) 
Anhydrodigitoxigenin  is  obtained  by  the  action  of  concentrated 
hydrochloric  acid  on  digitoxigenin  in  alcoholic  solution.  It 
crystallises  in  colorless  prisms  corresponding  to  the  formula 
15  According  to  J.  Pereira  (Handbuch  der  Heilmittellehre.  translated  by 
R.  Buchheim  Vol.  2,  p.  293),  the  seeds  of  Digitalis  purpurea  were  used 
medicinally  in  England,  as  well  as  digitalis  leaves,  in  the  first  half  of 
the  19th  century,  as  they  were  considered  more  constant  in  their  action 
than  the  leaves.  The  first  examination  of  the  seeds  for  digitalis  was 
undertaken  by  A.  Buchner  (Buchner's  Repertorium  fur  Pharmazie,  1851, 
Vol.  9,  p.  38. — Canstatts  Jahresberichte  1851,  N.  F.  1.    Jahrgang  p.  44.) 
18  In  the  following  decription  a  few  special  preparations  containing  digitalis 
substances  are  mentioned,  as  their  names  resemble  the  word  digitalis. 
