334 
ON  URSONE. 
ON  URSONE,  A  NEW  SUBSTANCE  FROM  THE  LEAVES  OF 
ARCTOSTAPHYLOS  UVA  URSI. 
By  H.  Trommsdorff. 
The  author  has  prepared  a  new  crystallizable  substance  from 
this  plant,  to  which  he  gives  the  name  ursone.  An  alcoholic  ex- 
tract of  the  leaves  was  made,  the  watery  solution  of  which  was 
employed  in  the  preparation  of  arbutine  according  to  Kawalier's 
method.  The  green  residue  remaining  after  |he  solution  of  the 
extract  in  water  was  repeatedly  washed  with  ether,  then  decocted 
with  alcohol,  and  the  alcoholic  fluid  filtered  whilst  boiling.  On 
cooling,  it  deposited  a  substance  in  fine  crystals. 
This  substance  is  most  easily  obtained  by  exhausting  the 
coarsely  powdered  leaves  of  the  plant  with  about  an  equal  weight 
of  ether,  in  Mohr's  apparatus  for  extraction  with  ether.  An 
abundant  deposit  of  crystalline  powder  is  found  in  the  dark 
green  ethereal  extract ;  this  is  washed  with  ether  and  recrystal- 
lized  from  alcohol. 
The  substance  forms  fine,  colorless,  silky,  acicular  crystals ;  it 
is  tasteless  and  inodorous,  insoluble  in  water,  dilute  acids  and 
alkalies,  and  difficult  of  solution  in  alcohol  and  ether.  It  fuses 
by  heat  into  a  colorless  liquid,  which  solidifies  on  cooling,  form- 
ing a  transparent,  amorphous,  cracked  mass.  At  a  higher 
temperature  it  boils  and  volatilizes,  apparently  unchanged,  form- 
ing a  white  sublimate  on  the  cold  side  of  the  vessel.  In  contact 
with  the  air,  it  burns  completely,  with  a  yellow  smoky  flame, 
without  leaving  any  cinder.  Concentrated  solution  of  potash  ap- 
pears to  have  no  action  upon  it  either  when  hot  or  cold.  Con- 
centrated sulphuric  acid  gives  it  an  orange-yellow  color,  without 
dissolving  it  completely,  although  the  liquid  also  assumes  this 
color  ;  when  heated,  the  color  passes  to  brown,  and  at  last 
carbonization  takes  place  with  evolution  of  sulphurous  acid. 
Fuming  nitric  acid  dissolves  the  substance  with  a  slight  evolution 
of  nitrous  acid,  forming  a  clear  yellow  fluid,  from  which  a  white 
body  is  deposited  in  abundance  on  the  addition  of  water. — Ibid, 
from  ArcJiiv  der  Pharm.*  lxxx.  p.  274. 
