Amo^x87h6arm' }   Gleanings  from  the  Foreign  Journals,  467 
Piperin  and  Chavicin. — R.  Buchheim  obtained  these  two  principles 
by  washing  the  alcoholic  extract  of  black  pepper  with  water  and  treating 
it  with  ether.  The  residue  was  treated  with  little  potassa  to  remove 
an  acid  resin,  dissolved  in  alcohol,  decolorized  with  animal  charcoal 
and  repeatedly  crystallized  from  petroleum  benzin.  The  piperin  thus 
obtained  was  in  nearly  colorless  quadrangular  prisms,  which  in  alco- 
holic solution  had  a  peppery  taste. 
The  etherial  solution  was- agitated  with  a  little  potassa  solution  to 
remove  chlorophyll,  fatty  acids  and  resin,  the  ether  distilled  off,  and 
the  residue  dissolved  in  alcohol,  treated  with  animal  charcoal,  and  evap- 
orated. By  repeatedly  dissolving  it  in  little  ether,  the  piperina  was 
nearly  entirely  removed,  and  a  little  petroleum  benzin  separated  the 
last  portions  of  fat.  The  chavicin  remaining  behind  was  a  yellowish- 
brown  mass  of  the  consistence  of  turpentine  and  an  extremely  acrid 
pepper  taste.  Its  alcoholic  solution,  boiled  with  potassa,  yielded  an 
alkaline  distillate,  which  proved  to  be  piperidina,  while  the  residue  in 
the  retort,  after  dissolving  in  water  and  acidulating  with  hydrochloric 
acid,  yielded  chavicic  acid  as  an  amorphous  resinous  mass. 
Piperina  may  be  regarded  as  a  piperidina,  N,H,C5H10  in  which  one 
H  is  replaced  by  piperic  acid,  thus  :  N,C12H9O3,C5H10,  and  chavicin 
may  in  like  manner  be  viewed  as  a  piperidina  in  which  one  H  is  re- 
placed by  chavicic  acid. 
Neither  chavicin  nor  piperin  yield  salts  with  acids. — Pbar.  Cent. 
Halle,  Nq.  35,  from  Buchn.  N.  Repert. 
Hops  as  a  Ferment. — The  fermentative  principle  which  Sacc  believes 
to  be  in  hops  (see  "Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1876,  320)  does  not  exist, 
according  to  F.  Soxhlet ;  a  fermentable  solution  of  sugar  mixed  with 
a  decoction  of  hops,  then  boiled  to  destroy  the  organized  alcohol  fer- 
ments, and  left  in  contact  with  filtered  air  only,  does  not  undergo  fer- 
mentation. The  porosity  of  bread  is  produced  through  alcoholic  fer- 
mentation ;  but  besides  this,  secondary  processes,  and  particularly  lac- 
tic fermentation,  are  observed.  Hops  act  as  a  preservative  against  the 
latter,  but  do  not  prevent  the  former,  and  are  added  to  yeast  for  simi- 
lar pui  poses  as  they  serve  in  beer,  namely,  to  prevent  the  secondary 
fermentation,  for  which  purpose  the  addition  to  beer  of  a  little  salicylic 
acid  has  been  recently  recommended. —  Chem.  Centralbl.,  No.  19. 
The  Presence  in  Beer  of  a  Substance  resembling  Colchicia. — E.  Danne- 
berg  stated  recently  that  he  had  obtained  from  beer  an  alkaloid  resem- 
