VACCINIIN,  ETC. 
297 
round  holes,  which  will  serve  to  keep  them  in  a  vertical  position 
when  used.  I  generally  keep  on  hand  three  sizes  of  moulds, 
holding  respectively  one,  two  and  three  scruples,  and  mark  the 
wooden  cones  accordingly.  These  moulds  cannot  be  used  more 
than  once,  but  can  be  so  readily  reproduced  that  this  is  scarcely 
a  disadvantage. 
Cincinnati,  May,  1870. 
YACCINIIN,  A  CRYSTALLIZABLK  PRINCIPLE  EXTRACTED 
FROM  THE  LEAVES  OF  THE  COW  BERRY  {VACCINIUM 
VITIS  IDJEA,  L.) 
By  E.  Claassen,  Apothecary. 
Already  in  the  year  1865,  before  emigrating  to  this  country, 
I  prepared  in  Germany  this  crystalline  substance  from  the  plant 
above  named.  This  plant,  so  common  in  Europe,  grows  in  but 
few  places  of  the  Northern  United  States,  particularly  in  the 
higher  mountains  of  the  New  England  States. 
By  boiling  the  fresh  plant  with  water  and  quick  lime,  precipi- 
tating the  decoction  with  acetate  of  lead,  filtering,  treating  the 
liquid  with  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  again  filtering,  evaporating  to 
the  consistency  of  syrup,  and  allowing  the  product  to  stand  for 
several  days,  it  assumes  the  form  of  a  crystalline  jelly,  which 
being  placed  upon  linen,  so  as  to  let  the  mother-liquor  drain  off, 
an'd  then  pressed,  yields  nearly  colorless  crystals, 
which  are  purified  by  dissolving  them  in  boiling  wa-  r'^'T"^ 
ter,  treating  with  animal  charcoal,  and  crystallizing.  |  i 
The  amount  of  vacciniin  in  the  shrub  is  about  1  per  ; 
cent.  It  forms  long  acicular  crystals,  of  a  somewhat  1 
bitter  taste,  and  without  any  smell.    In  general,  |  j 
many  of  the  crystals  are  united,  forming  fascicles,  ^  j  | 
but  sometimes  you  may  see  them  in  the  shape  of  four  | 
or  six-sided  (probably  rhombical)  prisms,  with  two  | 
sides,  flattening  their  ends.*  1  j 
It  is  scarcely  soluble  in  ether,  pretty  easily  soluble 
in  cold  water  and  alcohol,  but  very  easily  in  boiling 
*The  sides  represented  by  b  are  often  so  predominant  as  to  be  three 
times  as  large  as  those  represented  by  a. 
