SACCHARO-CHIRETTINE. 
535 
washed,  first  with  ammonical  water,  then  with  alcohol,  was  treated 
with  a  mixture  of  sulphuric  acid  and  alcohol  and  filtered.  The 
filtrate  containing  the  chirettine  was  further  treated  with  car- 
bonate of  lime  to  remove  the  excess  of  acid.  The  filtered  liquid, 
which  was  of  indescribable  bitterness,  I  had  no  means  of  sub- 
jecting to  more  appropriate  evaporation  than  spreading  out  on  a 
clean  glass  plate  ;  the  result  being  a  transparent  extract,  pale 
yellow  in  color,  dry  at  first,  but  in  time  becoming  moist.  This 
product  I  consider  to  be  impure  chirettine  ;  and  the  same  has 
always  resulted  when  modifications  of  the  above  process  were 
tried. 
It  is  a  neutral  substance,  quite  soluble  in  water  and  alcohol. 
Its  aqueous  solution,  when  evaporated  in  the  air,  deposits  a  taste- 
less brown  resin,  into  which  the  chirettine  becomes  entirely  con- 
verted if  the  evaporation  is  continued  to  dryness.  It  is  very 
difficult  to  preserve  the  pure  solution  at  all  from  this  change ; 
if  aqueous,  it  deposits  the  resin  ;  if  alcoholic,  it  darkens  in  color. 
But  the  addition  of  glycerin  will  preserve  either  solutions  ap- 
parently unchanged  for  many  months.  Dilute  acids  do  not 
afiect  chirettine  ;  but  liquor  potassae  hastens  its  conversion  into 
resin. 
I  now  prepare  two  pharmaceutical  forms  of  chiretta  founded 
on  this  process,  one,  saccharo-chirettine,  a  dry  product ;  the 
other,  liquor  chirettine,  a  liquid. 
SdccJiaro-chirettine. — To  prepare  this,  I  follow  the  process 
above  described  with  an  economical  modification,  namely,  instead 
of  drying  the  chirettine,  I  add  to  its  pure  solution  a  proportion 
of  sugar  (20  lb.  for  each  60  lb.  of  chiretta  used),  dry  the  whole 
by  gentle  evaporation,  and  powder  it.  The  quantity  of  bitter 
principle  present  causes  quite  a  minute  increase  in  the  weight  of 
the  product,  which  is,  notwithstanding,  so  bitter  that  1  grain  is 
perceptible  in  a  gallon  of  water. 
When  well  prepared,  in  a  dry  atmosphere,  saccharo-chirettine 
is  nearly  white.  It  forms  a  clean  solution  with  water,  and  in 
portability  and  handiness  for  administration  I  submit  that  it  is  a 
most  convenient  pharmaceutic  form  of  the  drug  it  represents. 
The  strength  of  saccharo-chirettine  is  as  one  to  three  of  the 
herb ;  10  grains  being  equal  to  30  grains  of  chiretta,  or  about 
