Tests  for  Arsenic.  193 
removed  with  sulphuretted  hydrogen  and  the  filtrate,  after  boiling, 
allowed  to  stand  for  some  time  in  contact  with  animal  charcoal,  which 
absorbed  the  bitter  principle. 
The  animal  charcoal  was  then  thrown  on  a  filter  and  washed  with 
cold  water  to  remove  sugar,  which  was  found  to  be  present  by  Trom- 
mer's  test,  and  was  obtained  in  an  uncrystallizable  condition  on  the 
evaporation  of  the  washings.  The  residue  on  the  filter  was  then  dried 
and  exhausted  with  hot  alcohol,  which  on  evaporation  yielded  a  yel- 
lowish mass,  having  an  intensely  bitter  taste  ;  soluble  in  alcohol  and 
water,  but  insoluble  in  benzin,  ether  and  chloroform.  With  concen- 
trated nitric  acid  it  produces  a  bright  red  color,  which  slowly  fades  to 
yellow.  Sulphuric  acid  gives  a  purplish-brown  coloration.  Molyb- 
date  of  ammonium,  dissolved  in  sulphuric  acid,  produces  a  purple  color 
with  tinge  of  brown,  changing  to  red,  then  orange,  and  finally  pale 
yellow.  Its  aqueous  solution  yielded  precipitates  with  the  following 
reagents:  With  solution  of  iodohydragyrate  of  potassium,  yellowish- 
white  ;  with  mercuric  chloride,  white  ;  with  platinic  chloride,  yellowish- 
white;  with  iodine,  in  solution  of  potassium  iodide,  orange,  and  with 
solution  of  tannin,  greyish-white.  From  the  above  reactions  the  bitter 
principle  of  the  bai;k  was  considered  to  be  an  alkaloid. 
A  portion  of  the  bark  by  distillation  with  water  yielded  a  trace  of 
volatile  oil,  enough  of  which  could  not  be  obtained  for  examination. 
Five  grams  of  the  bark  were  incinerated  and  vielded  sixty-two  centi- 
grams of  ash,  equal  to  twelve  and  two-fifths  per  cent.,  of  which  twenty 
per  cent,  was  soluble  in  water,  ^nd  eighty  per  cent,  soluble  in  hydro- 
chloric acid.  An  analysis  showed  the  presence  of  potassium,  calcium, 
and  magnesium,  existing  as  chlorides,  carbonates  and  phosphates. 
TESTS  FOR  ARSENIC. 
By  Phil.  Hoglan,  Ph.G. 
In  a  recent  trial  of  a  woman  in  Coshocton  county,  for  administering 
arsenic  to  her  husband,  who  died  August  13th,  1879,  with  all  the  symp- 
toms of  arsenical  poisoning,  the  toxicologist,  who  made  an  examination 
of  the  viscera  of  the  deceased  and  found  four-fifths  of  a  grain  of  arsenic 
in  the  liver,  and  traces  in  the  stomach  and  intestines,  used  Reinsch's 
and  Marsh's  tests,  and  proved  the  metallic  spot  on  porcelain,  produced 
in  Marsh's  test  to  be  arsenic  by  the  hypochlorite  of  sodium  and  the 
nitrate  of  silver  tests,  and  the  production  of  octahedral  crystals  in 
13 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
April,  1880 
