496 
SANGUINARIA  CANADENSIS. 
becomes  clear  light  yellow.  Its  odor  is  of  a  delicate  fragrant 
character,  very  closely  resembling  the  oil  of  Monarda,  making 
it  in  this  respect  somewhat  difficult  to  distinguish  them  apart. 
The  taste  of  oil  of  dittany  is  warm,  pungent,  and  causes  cough- 
ing. When  rubbed  on  the  skin  it  produces  but  a  slight  red- 
ness, which  soon  disappears.  In  doses  of  five  or  ten  drops  it 
acts  as  a  carminative,  and  when  15  to  20  drops  are  taken  dia- 
phoresis follows. 
Its  specific  gravity  is  *920  ;  it  is  readily  soluble  in  alcohol, 
ether  and  chloroform.  Iodine  decomposes  it  with  white  vapors, 
sulphuric  acid  reddens  and  decomposes  it,  nitric  acid  resinifies  it, 
and  hydrochloric  acid  decolorizes  it,  but  on  exposure  the  color 
returns. 
A  portion  of  the  oil  exposed  in  a  watch  glass  until  it  evapo- 
rated left  a  small  quantity  of  crystalline  grains. 
The  author  then  made  an  examination  of  the  dried  herb,  in 
which  he  found  tannic  acid,  a  trace  of  glucose,  no  vegetable 
albumen,  gummy  matter,  no  starch,  but  considerable  extractive 
matter,  a  part  of  which  was  bitter  and  acid,  and  dark  green 
resin.  The  ash  contained  salts  of  potassa,  lime,  magnesia,  and 
iron. 
ON  SANGUINARIA  CANADENSIS. 
By  Thomas  M.  Newbold. 
(Extracted  from  an  Inaugural  Essay.) 
The  author,  after  stating  the  condition  of  his  subject  as  recited 
in  the  U.  S.  Dispensatory,  in  which  three  principles  are  described, 
viz.,  sanguinaria,  by  Dana,  porphyroxin,  by  Riegel,  and  puc- 
cine,  by  Wayne,  and  probably  Chelidonic  Acid,  says  the  main  ob- 
ject of  these  experiments  were  to  isolate  the  acid  principle  of  the 
root.  This  he  proposed  to  do  by  exhausting  the  root  with  a 
menstruum  which  would  not  disturb  the  chemical  status  of  the 
alkaloids  and  acid  or  acids,  and  then  by  precipitating  by  ammo- 
nia to  get  the  acid  in  combination  with  ammonia  in  the  liquid 
filtered  from  the  alkaloids,  and  then  separating  the  acid  as  a 
lead  salt,  and  the  lead  from  this  by  hydrosulphuric  acid. 
In  pursuance  of  this  plan  a  pint  of  the  officinal  tincture  was 
precipitated  by  aqua  ammonia  in  slight  excess ;  the  precipitate 
