\m,  jour,  f  harm.  1 
Sept..  1880.  j 
Prims  Verticellatus. 
437 
By  digesting  the  drug  in  boiling  alcohol,  and  filtering  while  hot,  and 
allowing  to  cool,  small,  colorless,  slender,  needle-shaped  crystals  were 
obtained,  found  to  be  mannite.  Out  of  lO  grams  '046  of  mannite 
was  obtained. 
By  distilling  10  grams  of  the  drug  -oil  of  odorous  oil  was  obtained. 
The  decoction  gave  an  acid  reaction  to  test  paper,  but  I  was  unable  to 
obtain  any  free  acid. 
Medical  Action. — I  restricted  myself  to  dieting,  which  consisted  in 
excluding  from  my  food  as  nearly  as  possible  all  carbonaceous  sub- 
stances. No  excess  of  exercise  ;  sunlight  ;  no  liquids  of  any  kind 
that  contained  any  carbon.  I  commenced  taking  the  fluid  extract  ; 
one  drachm  doses  four  times  daily,  before  meals  and  at  bedtime.  This 
was  continued  for  five  days.  From  that  time  the  dose  was  increased  to 
two  drachms  ;  this  continued  for  five  days.  (At  this  point  my  urine 
showed  signs  of  coloration.)  The  dose  was  then  increased  to  half  an 
ounce  ;  at  the  expiration  of  four  days  my  urine  was  decidedly  colored, 
and  had  an  extremely  offensive  odor,  and  when  permitted  to  stand  a 
separation  of  fat  could  be  seen  on  top.  On  the  fifteenth  day  I  found 
I  had  lost  in  weight  ij  pound,  and  on  the  twentieth  day  I  had  lost 
4f  pounds.     The  above  experiments  are  all  that  I  have  so  far  made. 
PRINOS  VERTICELLATUS. 
By  Louis  Clay  Collier,  Ph.G. 
Extract  from  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
A  quantity  of  the  bark  was  procured,  carefully  examined  and  found 
•to  answer  perfectly  to  the  description  given  in  the  National  Dispensa- 
tory. 
The  bark  was  properly  comminuted,  packed  in  a  cylindrical  perco- 
lator and  thoroughly  exhausted  with  alcohol. 
The  alcohol  was  recovered  by  distillation,  and  the  residue,  which  was 
evaporated  over  a  water  bath  to  a  semi-fluid  consistence,  was  of  a  dark 
green  color  and  extremely  bitter. 
It  was  then  repeatedly  agitated  with  petroleum  benzin,  which  upon 
evaporation  yielded  a  "wax"  containing  all  of  the  chlorophyll,  and  left 
a  residue,  which  I  shall  denominate  A,  of  a  yellowish-brown  color. 
The  wax  was  of  a  beautiful  dark  green  and  upon  heating  emitted 
an  aromatic  odor  resembling  that  of  yellow  wax  and  of  about  the  same 
^consistence,  soluble  in  alcohol,  ether  and  oil  of  turpentine. 
i 
