Am.  Jour.  Pharm.> 
January,  1S£>5.  / 
Gaultherin. 
*9 
bitter  taste,  therefore  is  not  decomposed  by  the  ferments  of  the 
saliva  ;  it  is  not  decomposed  by  emulsin  or  diastase.  Decomposed 
by  dilute  mineral  acids,  it  yields  only  two  products,  sugar  and 
methyl  salicylate.  Moist  gaultherin  is  slowly  decomposed,  as  is 
shown  by  the  faint  odor  of  wintergreen  which  such  specimens  show 
after  a  few  days  ;  the  aqueous  solution,  heated  in  a  closed  tube  to 
I30°-I40°  C,  gives  the  above-mentioned  two  decomposition 
products. 
The  glucoside  crystallizes  with  a  molecule  of  water,  which  is  only 
in  part  given  off  if  kept  over  sulphuric  acid  or  dried  at  ordinary 
temperature  or  with  moderate  heating  ;  drying  at  a  somewhat  higher 
temperature  brings  about  its  decomposition,  so  that  combustions 
made  with  the  crystals  dried  under  different  conditions  show  a 
variation  of  as  much  as  2  per  cent,  in  the  amount  of  carbon.  After 
ascertaining  the  cause  of  these  variable  figures,  two  combustions 
were  made,  giving  the  following  composition  : 
Calculated  for 
L  II.  Ci4Hl808  +  H20 
C  50-31  50-2S  50*60 
H   599  6*22  6'02 
Procter's  preparation  in  all  probability  consisted  chiefly  of  sugar ; 
the  formation  of  gaultheric  acid  (which  see  in  the  previous  part), 
by  boiling  with  baryta  water,  as  stated  by  Procter,  was  repeated 
with  the  crystallized  gaultherin,  but  with  very  different  results. 
Baryta  water,  in  the  cold,  will  decompose  gaultherin  after  a  short 
time  ;  heated  to  the  boiling  point  the  glucoside  is  decomposed 
with  the  saponification  of  the  methyl  salicylate  so  that  the  solu- 
tion contains  methyl  alcohol,  barium  salicylate  and  sugar;  what 
was  called  gaultheric  acid,  therefore,  is  a  mixture  of  sugar  and 
salicylic  acid,  and  all  of  the  properties  ascribed  by  Procter  to  this 
acid  are  due  this  mixture,  save  one,  which  is  not  explainable, 
namely,  the  formation  of  oil  of  wintergreen  by  distilling  the 
so-called  gaultheric  acid  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid.  If  the  proof 
of  this  consisted  in  testing  the  distillate  with  a  ferric  salt,  instead 
of  actually  observing  the  oil,  even  this  is  explainable,  as  salicylic 
acid  will  volatilize  with  the  steam. 
Without  attempting  the  isolation  of  the  ferment,  which  brings 
about  the  decomposition  of  the  gaultherin,  the  statement  of  Procter, 
that  the  ferment  is  insoluble  in  water,  is  discredited,  on  the  ground 
