298  Analytical  Researches  and  Investigations,  {"^"junerissa!""' 
albumin.  The  dextrin  may  also  be  extracted  with  hot  water  and 
determined  from  the  loss  of  weight. 
After  igniting  the  sand  its  weight  must  be  the  same  as  in  the 
beginning.  The  difference  in  weight  before  and  after  ignition  indi- 
cates the  weight  of  albumen. 
By  the  methods  detailed  above  I  have  examined  twenty  different 
malt  extracts  of  American  and  European  manufacture;  but  the 
publication  of  the  figures  obtained  would  be  of  no  value  unless 
accompanied  by  the  designation  of  the  articles^  which  appears  to  be 
inadmissible. 
ANALYTICAL  RESEARCHES  AND  INVESTIGATIONS. 
Collated  by  Prof.  Frederick  B.  Power,  Ph.D. 
On  Laserpitin.  By  Dr.  Richard  Kiilz. — Laserpitin  is  the  bitter 
principle  of  the  white  gentian  root  (Laserpitium  latifolium),  and  is 
obtained  by  repeatedly  extracting  the  finely  divided  root  with  petroleum 
ether,  the  filtered  liquids  concentrated  by  distillation,  and  the  residual 
red-brown  liquid  allowed  to  evaporate  and  crystallize.  The  crystals 
are  purified  by  recrystallization  from  boiling  petroleum  ether,  and 
then  form  large  colorless  crystals  of  the  monoclinic  system,  having  the 
composition  C15H22O4,  and  melting  at  118°C. 
Upon  heating  laserpitin  with  sodium  acetate  and  an  excess  of  acetic 
anhydride  the  acetyl  derivative,  Q^Jlc^^{QJlfy)0^,  is  obtained,  which 
crystallizes  in  short,  thick,  colorless  needles,  melting  at  113°C. 
By  the  action  of  KOH  laserpitin  is  split  into  laserol  and  angelic 
acid.  The  former  could  be  obtained  only  as  a  brown  resinous  mass; 
the  decomposition  is  presumed  to  occur  according  to  the  equation : 
2C,5H,A  +  H,0  =  C\„H3A  +  2C,HA- 
—  Chem.  Zeitung,  No.  30,  1883,  p.  455,  from  Arch.  Pharm.,  21,  p. 
161. 
On  Coffeine  and  its  Salts.  By  Dr.  H.  Biedermann. — The  coffeine^ 
dried  at  lOO^C,  was  found  in  acccordance  with  the  statements  of 
former  investigators  to  have  the  formula  CgHjoN^Oa;  it  melts  at 
230.5°C. 
Hydrochlorate  of  Coffeine.  CgHioN402,  HCl  -f  SHgO,  forms  color- 
less transparent  crystals  of  the  monoclinic  system ;  the  hydrobromate 
has  an  analogous  composition,  whilst  the  nitrate  crystallizes  with  one 
molecule  of  water. 
