576 
Australian  Myrtaceous  Kinos. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharin. 
X  November,  1895. 
We  have  restricted  our  researches  to  a  typical  Eucalyptus  kino 
belonging  to  the  turbid  group,  namely,  that  of  Eucalyptus  hemi- 
phloia,  F.  v.  M.,  and  also  that  of  Angophora  lanceolata,  Cav.,  as  the 
exudations  of  this  genus  closely  resemble  some  of  the  members  of 
the  turbid  group  of  Eucalyptus  kinos. 
Eudesmin  can  be  easily  obtained  crystallized  and  in  a  pure  state 
by  the  method  about  to  be  described. 
When  the  kino  of  Eucalyptus  hemiphloia  is  finely  powdered  and 
treated  with  ether  in  a  dry  state,  practically  nothing  is  taken  into 
solution  ;  but  if  a  small  quantity  of  water  is  added  to  the  fine  powder 
and  gently  heated,  a  thick  paste  is  formed.  If,  on  cooling,  this 
paste  be  transferred  to  a  separator,  ether  added  and  well  agitated, 
it  partly  goes  into  solution,  the  ether  presenting  a  yellow  color. 
By  repeated  agitation,  removal  of  the  ethereal  layer,  addition  of 
fresh  ether,  and  repetition  of  the  process  for  about  two  days,  the 
greater  portion  of  the  substances  soluble  in  ether  are  removed,  no 
emulsion  being  formed.  The  ether  used  in  these  successive  extrac- 
tions is  mixed,  distilled  off  at  a  low  temperature,  and  the  residual 
mass,  partly  resinous-looking  and  partly  crystalline,  is  digested  in 
absolute  alcohol  (in  which  it  is  readily  soluble  with  the  aid  of  heat), 
transferred  to  a  beaker  and  allowed  to  cool.  If  only  a  very  small 
quantity  of  the  alcohol  has  been  added,  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
eudesmin  will  crystallize  out.  These  crystals  can  be  transferred  to 
a  filter,  washed  with  rather  dilute  alcohol  to  remove  the  amorphous 
resinous-looking  body,  and  transferred  to  a  porous  substance  to 
drain.  After  recrystallization,  the  appearance  of  the  body  is  that 
of  a  pure  white  mass,  with  a  lustre  resembling  spermaceti.  It  is 
necessary  that  the  successive  filtrates  obtained  from  these  crystals 
be  placed  in  a  vessel  to  allow  of  the  slow  evaporation  of  the 
alcohol,  so  that  the  remaining  crystals  of  eudesmin  may  form  and 
so  be  removed,  or  the  filtrates  may  be  evaporated  to  dryness,  and 
again  treated  with  absolute  alcohol  with  the  aid  of  a  gentle  heat> 
and  the  previous  process  repeated.  If  care  is  taken  in  the  manipu- 
lation, it  is  possible  to  almost  entirely  remove  eudesmin  from  these 
solutions,  and  so  separate  it  from  the  resinous-looking  body,  which 
is  readily  soluble  in  even  dilute  alcohol. 
The  crystals  of  eudesmin,  which  are  obtained  by  slowly  evapo- 
rating an  alcoholic  solution,  are  rhombic  prisms ;  larger  crystals  are 
obtained  by  slow  crystallization  from  amyl  alcohol ;  these  crystals 
