AmAJu°g^'i87h6arin'}  Gleanings  from  the  Foreign  Journals.  3  5 
of  acid  in  excess,  more  than  sufficient  to  color  the  solution,  caustic 
alkali  fails  to  produce  a  precipitation,  and  if  further  heat  be  used  after 
the  acid  has  been  added,  yellow  crystals  soluble  in  alkali  are  deposited. 
These  results  point  to  the  production  of  a  nitro-compound,  probably 
of  Laurent's  cacothelin  ("Am.  Jour.  Phar.,"  xix,  237;  xx,  115). 
The  results  further  prove  that  the  detection  of  brucia,  and  even  of 
strychnia,  in  an  analytical  inquiry  will  become  doubtful,  if  the  presence 
of  nitric  acid,  even  dilute,  be  permitted.  Phar.  Jour,  and  Tram., 
April  22,  p.  841.  (See  also  papers  by  Rosengarten,  Am.  Jour.  Phar., 
xx,  114;  Baumert,  Ann.  d.  Chem.  u.  Phar.,  lxx,  337,  and  Strecker, 
Co?np.  Rend.,  xxxix,  49. 
Amyrin. — Eugene  Buri  obtained  amyrin  by  treating  elemi  with  cold 
90  per  cent,  alcohol,  and  recrystallizing  the  residue  repeatedly  from 
hot  alcohol.  It  forms  colorless  silky  needles,  united  to  globular  masses, 
fuses  at  1 770  C.  and  congeals,  far  b^low  the  melting  point,  to  a  trans- 
parent, resinous  mass,  which  crystallizes  again  from  alcohol.  It  is 
soluble  in  ether,  and  freely  in  chloroform  and  carbon  bisulphide.  100 
parts  of  alcohol  of  92*5  per  cent,  dissolve  at  160  C.  (6o*8°  F.)  3*6 
parts.  Its  alcoholic  solution  affects  polarized  light  -j-  4*5°.  It  is  sub- 
limable  when  carefully  heated  in  thin  layers.  Ultimate  analysis  gave 
results  agree'ng  with  the  formula  C25H420=(C5H8)5.H20,  to  which  also 
the  acetyl  substitution  product  points.  By  the  action  of  nitric  acid, 
oxalic  and  an  amorphous  resin  acid  were  obtained.  The  products  of 
destructive  destination  could  not  be  separated  into  bodies  of  uniform 
boiling  point  \  the  first  portion  had  an  agreeable  odor  and  aromatic 
taste. — Buchner's  N.  Repert.,  1876,  1 93-203. 
Alkaloid  from  Capsicum. — J.  C.  Thresh  treated  the  fruit  of  Capsicum 
fastigiatum,  deprived  of  their  non-acrid  seeds,  with  benzin,  which 
yielded  20  per  cent,  of  a  red  fatty  substance,  of  intense  acridity.  This 
was  dissolved  in  ether,  the  solution  shaken  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid, 
t>he  free  acid  partially  neutralized  with  barium  carbonate,  filtered,  evap- 
orated, and  the  oily  residue  treated  with  alkali  and  agitated  with  ether. 
On  evaporating  the  ether,  a  small  quantity  of  an  oily  alkaloid  was 
obtained,  smelling  somewhat  like  conium,  having  a  mawkish,  persistent, 
but  not  acrid  taste,  and  yielding  crystals  on  being  combined  with  HC1 
and  S03  The  alkaloid  is  undoubtedly  the  one  observed  by  Felletar 
in  1868,  and  since  then  confirmed  by  Dragendorff  and  Fluckiger. — 
Pharm.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  May  27,  p.  941. 
