220 
GLEANINGS  FROM  GERMAN  JOURNALS. 
sam  yields  45  to  50  per  cent.  This  portion  was  thinner  and 
more  yellowish  than  that  obtained  from  the  genuine ;  it  could 
not  be  saponified  with  caustic  potassa,  and  separated  on  stand- 
ing, of  a  milky  appearance,  while  the  cinnamein  from  the  genu- 
ine balsam  separates  scarcely  turbid  and  often  quite  clear.  On 
distillation,  this  balsam  behaves  like  the  genuine.  Copaiba 
could  not  be  found.  Its  specific  gravity  is  1-120  to  1425,  of 
the  genuine  1*14  to  146.  Hager  regards  it  unfit  for  medicinal 
use. — Zeitschr,  d.  Oesterr.  Apoth.  Ver.  1869,  280,  from  FL 
Gent.  Halle,  ix,  46. 
Adulteration  of  Cochineal. — Finely  powdered  sulphate  of  ba- 
ryta is  fixed  upon  cochineal  by  some  glutinous  material.  Cochi- 
neal leaves  IJ  per  cent,  ashes  ;  in  five  samples  of  adulterated 
cochineal  8,  12,  16,  18  and  25  per  cent,  of  the  baryta  salt  was 
found.— /6zc?.,  280,  from  Ber  Apotli.  ix,  No.  2. 
Pomegranate  harh. — Dr.  C.  Harz  reiterates  his  statement, 
made  some  time  ago,  that  the  commercial  bark  of  pomegranate 
root  is  in  reality  the  bark  of  the  trunk,  occasionally  intermixed 
wdth  some  root  bark.  The  latter  has  larger  cells,  and  at  a  short 
distance  from  the  cambium  the  cells  of  the  medullary  rays  are 
not  elongated,  but  quadratic.  The  trunk  bark,  like  that  of  the 
root,  possesses  anthelmintic  properties. — Ibid.,  303,  304. 
Coniferin  is  a  new  glucoside  discovered  by  Th.  Hartig  in  the 
cambial  juice  of  Abies  excelsa,  A.  ijeetinata,  Pinus  strobus,  Cem- 
hra,  and  Larix  europcea.  The  cambial  juice  is  boiled,  filtered 
and  evaporated  to  one-fifth ;  soft  acicular  crystals  are  formed  on 
cooling,  which  are  separated  by  pressure  from  the  saccharine 
mother  liquor,  and  recrystallized  from  alcohol  or  water  with 
animal  charcoal. 
The  silky  sharp-pointed  crystals  lose  their  water  of  crystalli- 
zation at  100°  C,  fuse  at  185,  and  congeal  to  a  vitreous  mass. 
They  are  sparingly  soluble  in  cold  water  and  strong  alcohol,  in- 
soluble in  ether.  Their  taste  is  faintly  bitter.  Sulphuric  acid 
colors  coniferin  deep  violet ;  the  muriatic  acid  solution  on  heat- 
ing separates  a  deep  blue  precipitate.  Its  composition  is 
C48H32O24  +  6  HO. — Ibid.^  326,  from  Journ.  /.  Prakt.  Qhem,^ 
vol.  97. 
