372 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
t      July,  1883. 
investigations  on  curcumin  (see  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  1882,  p.  388)  and 
studied  the  products  obtained  by  the  action  of  nascent  hydrogen  and 
jromine.  Oil  of  turmeric  was  obtained  by  light  petroleum  and  purified 
by  fractional  distillation  under  diminished  pressure ;  the  fraction  boil- 
ing below  193°C.,  consisted  of  turmerol  and  petroleum  hydrocarbons^ 
and  the  second  fraction  of  turmerol,  C19H28O  ;  a  viscous  semi-solid  resi- 
due was  left.  Turmerol  is  pale  yellow,  of  a  pleasant  aromatic  odor, 
spec.  grav.  '9016  at  1 7 °C.,  dextrogyrate,  readily  soluble  in  the  ordinary 
solvents  except  water,  and  boils  under  ordinary  pressure  at  285-290°C., 
but  decomposes  at  the  same  time.  It  is  an  alcohol,  and  by  action  of  a 
hot  solution  of  potassium  permanganate  in  excess  is  oxidized  totereph- 
thalic  acid. — Amer.  Chem.  Jour.,  iv,  360-374. 
Oil  of  Erechthites  consists,  according  to  F.  Beilstein  and  E.  Wiegand, 
almost  exclusively  of  terpenes,  boiling  between  175°  and  310°F. 
Oil  of  Erigeron  canadense  contains  mainly  a  terpene  C^oH^g  which 
after  distillation  over  sodium,  boils  at  176°C.,  has  the  spec,  grav,  *8464 
at  18°C.,  and  forms  a  crystalline  dihydrochloride  C^oHig '21101,  which 
melts  at  47  to  48  °0. 
Oil  of  Marjoram. — The  first  fractions  are  a  terpene  OioH^g,  boiling 
at  178°,  of  spec.  grav.  •8403  at  18*5°0.,  and  forming  a  liquid  mono- 
hydrochloride.  The  fraction  boiling  between  200°  and  220°O.,  has 
the  composition  Qy^^fd,  and  is  not  affected  by  long  continued  boiling 
with  metallic  sodium. — Berichte,  1882,  p.  2854. 
The  prolein  compounds  of  milk. — The  statement  made  by  Kemmer- 
ich,  concerning  the  formation  of  casein  from  albumin,  led  Schmidt-- 
Muehlheim  to  undertake  a  series  of  experiments,  the  result  of  which 
was  that  on  digesting  fresh  milk  at  40°O  (104°r)  for  from  6  to  24 
hours,  albumin  was  not  changed  in  the  least,  but  casein  decreased  in 
quantity,  on  an  average  4*17  per  cent,  in  6  hours,  9"45  per  cent,  in  8 
hours,  and  16*5  per  cent,  in  24  hours.  This  casein  was  converted  into 
peptone,  the  increase  of  which  over  that  contained  normally  in  milk 
was  proven  colorimetrically  by  cupric  sulphate  and  comparison  with 
peptone  solution  of  known  strength.  In  order  to  obtain  the  peptone 
in  a  suitable  condition  for  this  examination,  it  was  found  necessary  to 
remove  the  albuminoids  not  by  boiling,  but  by  precipitation  in  the 
cold  by  means  of  table  salt  and  acetic  acid ;  and  the  milk  sugar  by 
precipitating  the  peptone  with  phosphotungstic  acid  and  dissolving  the 
precipitate  in  caustic  soda.  Fresh  milk  contains  between  '08  and  T9 
per  cent,  of  peptone,  whicli  by  digestion  was  increased  to  "33  per  cent. 
