Am.  Jour  Pharm. ") 
Nov.,  1883.  J 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica. 
567 
obtained  from  the  seeds,  deprived  of  the  husk,  by  means  of  ether, 
forty-four  per  cent,  of  a  somewhat  viscid  yellowish  oil,  odorless  and 
having  an  unpleasant  aftertaste.  In  China  it  is  known  as  cha  yan,  or 
tea  oil,  and  is  chiefly  used  as  a  hair  dressing  and  as  an  illuminant.  In 
addition  to  the  oil,  about  10  per  cent,  of  a  glucoside,  giving  all  the 
reactions  of  saponin,  was  obtained  from  the  seeds.  Even  then  the 
marc,  on  being  shaken  with  water,  gave  a  persistent  lather.  This 
saponin  is  a  friable,  amorphous  white  powder,  having  only  a  slight 
creamy  tinge,  and  a  sweetish,  afterwards  bitter,  disagreeable  and 
biting  taste.  Almost  odorless  when  dry,  it  has  a  peculiar  dis- 
agreeable odor  when  dissolved  in  water.  The  dust  irritates  the 
nostrils.  It  is  insoluble  in  ether,  sparingly  soluble  in  absolute  alcohol, 
freely  in  84  per  cent,  alcohol,  and  very  sojuble  in  water,  the  latter 
solution  having  an  acid  reaction,  and  giving  white  precipitates  with 
barium  hydrate,  basic  lead  acetate,  and,  on  heating,  with  normal  lead 
acetate.  The  solution  emulsifies  oils  and  chloroform,  and,  shaken  with 
mercury,  the  latter  is  finely  divided.  It  gives  '9  per  cent,  of  ash. 
Heated  with  hydrochloric  acid,  a  flocculent,  white  precipitate  (sapo- 
genin)  is  thrown  down,  and  a  glucose  remains  in  solution.  The 
saponin  was  prepared  by  exhausting  the  seed,  deprived  of  oil,  with  84 
per  cent,  alcohol,  concentrating  the  tincture  to  a  syrupy  liquid,  pre- 
cipitating with  absolute  alcohol,  redissolving  in  84  per  cent,  alcohol, 
treating  with  animal  charcoal  and  filtering. 
The  press  cake  left  on  expressing  the  oil,  is  called  cha-tsai-peng,  and 
its  powder  cha-tsai-fau.  These  are  used  for  washing,  for  removing 
grease  stains,  for  destroying  worms,  grubs,  etc.,  and  for  poisoning  fish^ 
when  kept  in  tanks. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  July  14,  1883. 
The  Fruit  of  the  Brazilian  Coffee  Tree  has  been  examined  by  Dr, 
Th.  Peckolt,  a  portion  of  the  investigation  having  been  made  and  pub- 
lished in  1864. 
Mucilage  and 
Weight  of  berry.  ^      Pulp.  testa.         Coffee  bean.       Ash  of  pulp. 
Fresh,  1-780       ]     '658  '282  -840  gm.  1-717 
Dried  at  100°C.,     -584       '     -159  -150  '272    "  27*750 
The  fresh  pulp  contains  in  1,000  parts, 
Caffeine,  ......  -270 
Dark  yellow,  thick  oil,  .....  5-000 
Wax  and  red  violet  color,  ....  5*550 
Soft  resin,  yellow,  inodorous,  tasteless,  insoluble  in  alkalies,  .  1*240 
Resin,  brown  yellow,  insoluble  in  ether,  sparingly  soluble  in  alkalies,  15*900 
Coffeotannin,  not  identical  with  that  of  coffee  beans,  .  14*620 
