Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.  1876. 
Laboratory  Notes. 
Solution  of  the  proto-salts  of  tin,  zinc  or  copper,  yield  a  deep  blue 
color  with  the  molybdates. 
There  is  no  more  need  of  molybdic  acid,  or  molybdates,  in  these 
test  solutions  than  for  the  presence  of  any  other  blue  coloring  matter, 
which  will  blend  with  the  color  produced  by  sulphuric  acid,  and 
produce  tints  which,  while  pleasing  to  the  eye,  confuse  the  analyst. 
LABORATORY  NOTES. 
BY  E.  S.  WAYNE. 
Damiana. — A  quantity  of  this  new  remedy,  purchased  in  New  York, 
and  similar  to  that  figured  as  No.  3  in  the  November  (1875)  ''Journal 
of  Pharmacy"  (page  578),  was  made  into  fluid  extract.  The  drug 
was  exhausted  with  76  per  cent,  alcohol.  The  filtered  extract,  upon 
standing  for  several  days  in  a  glass  vessel,  deposited  all  over  that  part 
of  the  vessel  filled  with  it,  a  crystalline  crust.  The  extract  was  poured 
from  the  bottle  and  crystals  removed,  which  upon  examination  were 
found  to  be,  not  a  proximate  principle,  as  I  expected,  but  chloride  of 
potassium. 
Eucalyptus  globulus. — In  the  preparation  of  the  fluid  extract  of  this 
substance,  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  a  preparation  that  would  not 
in  a  short  time  form  a  copious  precipitate,  supposed  to  be  chlorophyll. 
The  green  appearance  of  it  warranted  that  opinion,  but  when  separat- 
ing it  from  the  extract,  and  examining  it,  I  found  that  chlorophyll 
formed  only  a  small  part  of  the  mass.  I  dissolved  the  precipitate  in 
alcohol,  filtered  it  through  bone  black,  and  obtained  a  light-colored 
solution,  free  from  the  green  chlorophyll.  This  was  then  treated  with 
an  alcoholic  solution  of  plumbic  acetate,  which  was  added  as  long  as  it 
gave  a  precipitate  ;  this  was  filtered,  and  sulphydric  acid  passed  into 
the  nitrate,  to  remove  excess  of  lead.  After  removing  the  sulphide  of 
lead,  the  filtrate  was  placed  in  a  loosely  covered  vessel,  to  evaporate 
spontaneously.  As  the  alcohol  evaporated,  crystals  began  to  form  on 
the  sides  of  the  bottle,  and  by  slow  evaporation  a  confused  crystalline 
mass  was  obtained,  retaining  the  peculiar  odor  of  the  substance.  I 
could  not  make  out  the  crystalline  form,  but  removed  the  crystals  and 
reduced  them  to  a  powder,  the  color  a  pale  ochre  tint.  The  substance 
is  soluble  in  ether  and  chloroform  ;  its  alcoholic  solution  gives,  with 
ferric  chloride,  a  dark  brownish-red  color.  The  precipitate  conse- 
quently contains,  besides  chlorophyll  and  tannic  acid,  a  peculiar  crys- 
tallizable  acid  resin,  which  gives  a  brown-red  reaction  with  ferric 
chloride. 
