As  arum  Canadense. 
{Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1876. 
evaporated  spontaneously,  leaving,  in  each  case,  a  slight  residue.  Ether 
appearing  to  be  the  best  solvent,  the  whole  of  the  mother-liquor  was 
agitated  with  it,  the  supernatant  liquid  separated,  evaporated  spon- 
taneously, residue  dissolved  in  alcohol,  and  again  evaporated.  A  soft 
resinous  product  was  thus  obtained,  neutral  to  test-paper,  having  a 
strong,  agreeable  odor,  entirely  different  from  the  volatile  oil,  and  pe- 
culiar to  itself.  It  possessed  a  warm,  pungent  taste,  quite  lasting.  The 
amount  of  this  principle  obtained  was  too  small  to  institute  any  further 
experiments.  It  would  seem  from  this,  however,  that  we  are  not  to 
look  upon  the  essential  oil  as  the  only  volatile  constituent  representing 
the  aromatic  properties  of  the  root  ;  for  this  new  volatile  principle, 
although  in  very  small  quantity,  exhibited  its  characteristics  in  a  very 
distinct  manner,  thereby  being  easily  distinguished  from  the  volatile  oil. 
In  addition  to  these  volatile  principles,  asarum  also  contains  con- 
siderable amount  of  a  resin  which  is  by  no  means  inactive.  In  pre- 
paring a  fluid  extract  and  tincture,  alcohol  was  used  as  menstruum,  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  all  this  resin.  Using  ether  as  menstruum,  an 
oleo-resin  was  first  prepared. 
Eight  troyounces  of  the  dried  root,  sufficiently  fine  to  pass  through 
a  No.  40  sieve,  was  precolated  with  stronger  ether,  until  the  precolate 
passed  through  colorless.  The  greater  portion  of  ether  was  recovered 
by  distillation,  the  remainder  evaporated  spontaneously,  leaving  an  oleo- 
resin  of  a  liquid  consistence,  amounting  to  10  per  cent.,  by  weight,  of 
the  root  employed,  and  possessing  all  the  properties  of  the  drug. 
A  fluid  extract  was  made  according  to  directions  given  by  Parrish, 
in  his  second-class  of  fluid  extracts. 
Several  tinctures  were  prepared,  using  different  proportions  of  alco- 
hol and  water  ;  but  alcohol  (sp.  gr.  '835)  seemed  to  afford  the  best 
menstruum.  The  strength  of  the  tincture  made  was  four  ounces  to 
the  pint. 
From  the  fluid  extract  two  syrups  were  made,  one  possessing  the 
virtues  of  the  resin,  as  well  as  the  volatile  oil,  while  the  other  was 
deprived  of  the  resin  by  trituration  with  magnesium  carbonate.  A 
marked  difference  was  to  be  observed  in  the  taste  as  well  as  appear- 
ance of  these  two  syrups.  The  one  freed  from  resin  was,  of  course, 
much  the  handsomer,  being  transparent  and  of  a  dark  amber  color, 
while  the  one  containing  the  resin,  although  of  a  lighter  color,  was 
hardly  transparent.    The  first  syrup  would  be  the  best  for  use  where 
