THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
NOVEMBER,  1876. 
ON  THE  SEEDS  OF  RICINUS  COMMUNIS. 
BY  EMIL  LOUIS  BOERNER,  PH.G. 
(From  an  Inaugural  Essay.} 
The  acrid  principle  of  ricinus  seeds  is  but  in  a  slight  degree  extracted 
in  the  expression  of  the  oil,  and  the  residual  marc,  as  left  by  the  man- 
ufacturer of  castor  oil,  would,  therefore,  contain  the  greater  portion  of 
it,  and  was  the  material  operated  upon. 
The  coarse  particles,  which  were  liable  to  interfere  with  percolation, 
being  rejected,  four  different  portions,  of  1,000  grains  each,  were 
treated  respectively  with  gasolin,  bisulphide  of  carbon,  ether,  and  alco- 
hol, until  exhausted  ;  the  various  menstrua  evaporated,  and  the  resi- 
dues weighed,  yielding  from  gasolin  6*9  per  cent.;  bisulphide  of  car- 
bon, 11*77  Per  cent-j  ether,  14  per  cent.,  and  alcohol,  2I'2  per  cent. 
The  first  three  appeared  to  be  pure  oil,  and  were  of  a  light  yellow 
color,  while  the  alcohol  residue  was  much  darker,  and  contained  con- 
siderable coloring  matter,  which  was  deposited  upon  standing. 
The  marc  which  had  been  exhausted  with  gasolin  was  further 
treated  with  bisulphide  of  carbon,  resulting  in  an  additional  5*37  per 
cent,  of  oily  residue  from  which,  after  a  few  days'  standing,  acicular 
crystals  separated,  which  were  insoluble  in  gasolin,  partly  soluble  in 
ether,  and  in  alcohol.  A  second  attempt  to  obtain  the  crystals  was 
unsuccessful.  That  portion  of  marc  which  had  been  treated  with 
bisulphide  of  carbon  yielded  nothing  to  gasolin  upon  subsequent  treat- 
ment with  this  menstruum. 
A  portion  of  exhausted  marc  was  macerated  with  water  until  decom- 
posed, requiring  for  the  process  about  fourteen  days.  It  was  then 
strained,  to  separate  coarser  particles,  and  distilled  \  the  distillate,  hav- 
ing an  acid  reaction  and  an  odor  resembling  that  of  decayed  cheese, 
was  treated  with  carbonate  of  zinc  and  filtered  ;  upon  concentration  of 
the  filtrate,  crystals  of  butyrate  of  zinc  separated.     Both  crystals  and 
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