'^'""sipt'.';  i88o^'"' 1  Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  469 
GLEANINGS  FROM  THE  GERMAN  JOURNALS. 
By  Louis  von  Cotzhausen,  Ph.G. 
A  Substitution  for  Seneka  Root  is  reported  by  E.  Siebert,  who 
claims  that  the  substituted  root  had  a  general  resemblance  to  seneka, 
without,  however,  possessing  the  characteristic  peculiarities  of  the 
officinal  root.  The  substituted  root  consists  of  dark  brown  (older 
roots)  and  almost  yellow  (younger  roots)  pieces,  presenting  like  seneka 
a  knotty,  rough  head,  exhibiting  numerous  scars,  showing  where  the 
stems  had  dropped  off,  and  besides  remnants  of  the  latter  still  adhering. 
The  pieces  of  root  were  longer  and  thicker  than  the  genuine,  but  dif- 
fered from  the  latter  in  not  possessing  the  peculiar  odor  and  taste,  and 
principally  in  not  being  marked  with  the  projecting,  peculiarly  twisted 
and  contorted  keel-like  line,  which  extends  along  the  whole  length  of 
genuine  seneka.  Transverse  sections  of  the  substituted  and  of  the 
genuine  roots  greatly  resembled  each  other.  The  author  supposes  the 
substituted  root  to  be  obtained  froni  one  of  the  many  polygala  species, 
indigenous  to  Central  America. — Pharm.  Ztg.^  April  7,  1880,  p.  208. 
Sinalbin,  the  glucoside  of  white  mustard  seed,  was  isolated 
by  Will  and  Laubenheimer  by  boiling  the  white  mustard,  previously 
deprived  of  its  fat,  with  85  per  cent,  alcohol  for  half  an  hour,  express- 
ing hot,  allowing  the  glucoside  to  crystallize,  washing  it  with  carbon 
bisulphide,  dissolving  it  in  a  little  warm  water,  decolorizing  with  animal 
charcoal,  precipitating  with  strong  alcohol  and  recrystallizing  the  pre- 
cipitate from  alcohol.  Sinalbin  has  the  composition  C3QH^^N2!S20jg,  is 
readily  soluble  in  water,  very  sparingly  soluble  in  cold,  but  readily  in 
about  3'3  parts  boiling  85  per  cent,  alcohol  ;  almost  insoluble  in 
absolute  alcohol,  and  not  soluble  in  ether  and  carbon  bisulphide.  It 
melts  when  heated,  is  decomposed  at  a  hi2;her  temperature,  liberating 
offensive-smelling  vapors,  is  colored  intensely  yellow  by  the  slightest 
trace  of  an  alkali,  and  temporarily  red  by  nitric  acid.  It  reduces 
alkaline  copper  solution,  and  yields  when  boiled  with  soda-lye  sodium 
sulphate  and  sodium  sulphocyanate. — Pharm.  Ztschr.  f.  Russl.^  Feb. 
15,  1880,  p.  112. 
Gardenin  Resin  was  isolated  by  J.  Stenhouse  more  than  twenty 
years  ago  from  the  so-called  "dikamale  gum,"  the  resinous  exudation 
of  Gardenia  lucida,  N.  O.  rubiaceae,  but  was  not  analyzed  satisfactorily 
until  quite  recently,  when  the  author  and  Chas.  E.  Groves  thoroughly 
investigated  its  properties,  etc.  The  resin  is  yellow,  crystalline,  has  an 
unpleasant  odor  resembling  garlic,  and  contains  i  to  i  "4  percent. 
