340  White  and  Black  Mustard  Seed.         { Am-  J Jf;  Sp- 
here I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Edward  F.  Schopflin,  of  the  graduating 
class  of  the  School  of  Pharmacy  of  the  University  of  Kansas. 
Mustard  was  known  and  used,  especially  for  its  volatile  oil,  many 
hundred  years  ago.  But  not  until  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century  was  anything  known  of  the  chemical  action  taking  place 
when  water  was  added  to  ground  black  mustard.  Will  and  Horner, 
in  1863,  established  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  pungent  principles 
developed  upon  the  addition  of  water  were  due  to  the  decomposi- 
tion which  took  place  between  a  glucoside  and  a  ferment.  They 
made  a  very  thorough  study  of  the  black  mustard  and,  some  years 
later,  Will  and  Laubenheimer  studied  white  mustard. 
Comparing  the  gross  characteristics  of  the  two  seeds,  we  find  in 
both  cases,  pre-formed  in  the  seed,  a  fixed  oil,  almost  the  same 
amount  in  each,  the  black  seed  containing  23  per  cent,  and  the 
white  22  per  cent.  The  two  fixed  oils  are  almost  identical  in  com- 
position. While  the  compounds  that  form  them  may  vary  some 
quantitatively,  there  has  been  found  no  compound  in  the  one  that 
has  not  been  shown  to  exist  in  the  other.  In  both  seed  are  found 
a  considerable  quantity  of  albuminous  matter,  also  about  19  per 
cent,  of  mucilage ;  but  in  neither  case  is  there  found  any  (?)  starch. 
Both  seed  contain  the  ferment  myrosin,  the  white  seed  usually  con- 
taining the  larger  quantity.  The  quantity  of  myrosin  in  the  black 
seed  is  quite  variable,  sometimes  going  as  low  as  2  per  cent.,  and 
again  containing  as  high  as  18  per  cent.  They  each  yield  about  4 
per  cent,  of  ash.  They  each  contain  a  glucoside  which  resembles 
that  of  the  other  in  very  many  ways,  and  again  differ  one  from  the 
other  very  materially  in  two  or  three  ways.  The  glucoside  sinal- 
bin (C30H44N2S2O16)  from  the  white  seed  yields,  when  decomposed 
by  myrosin,  glucose,  sinapin  sulphate  and  a  fixed  oil,  which  is  the 
sulphocyanate  of  acrinyl,  or,  chemically,  the  ortho-hydroxy-benzyl 
sulphocyanate.  Sinigrin  (C10H18KNS2O10),  the  glucoside  from  black 
mustard  seed,  yields  glucose,  potassium  sulphate,  and  a  volatile  oil, 
allyl  isosulphocyanate. 
The  reactions  may  be  represented  as  follows : 
WHITE. 
CS0H44N2SA6  =  C7H7OCNS  +  CMH8106NSHS04  +  C6H12Oe 
Sinalbin.  Acrinyl  sulphoc\'anate.        Acid  sinapin  sulphate.  Glucose. 
BLACK. 
KC10H18NS2O10    =    KHS04    +     C3H5CNS     +  QH1206 
Potassium  myron ate.     Acid  potassium  sulphate.   Allyl  isosulphoc}-anatt.  Glucose. 
