166  NEW  MODE  OF  EXTRACTING  COLOCYNTH,  ETC. 
on,  and  the  last  coat  is  dry,  a  little  chloride  of  zinc,  of  25°  to  30° 
(Beaume',)  is  applied  with  a  brush.  It  may  then  be  pumiced  and 
varnished  like  oil-paint.  This  painting  is  very  solid  and  inodor- 
ous ;  it  dries  instantaneously,  and  has  the  advantage  of  being 
antisepic  by  virtue  of  the  chloride  of  zinc. — Ibid,  from  Comptes 
Rendm. 
A  NEW  PROCESS  FOR  ISOLATING  BRYONIN,  COLOCYNTHIN, 
AND  ANALOGOUS  PRINCIPLES. 
By  M.  Emile  Mouchon. 
Extraction  of  Bryonin. 
Take  of  Bryony  root  in  fine  powder,  250  parts. 
"     Animal  charcoal  in  fine  powder,  well 
purified,  washed  and  dried,  125  " 
Mix  the  bryony  intimately  with  half  of  the  animal  charcoal,  and 
introduce  it  into  a  conical  percolator,  containing  the  other  half 
of  the  charcoal,  and  proceed  by  displacement  with  500  parts  of 
alcohol  of  95  per  cent.,  and  afterwards  by  225  parts  of  alcohol 
of  56°  per  cent,  and  this  again  by  sufficient  water  to  displace 
completely  the  first  menstruum. 
In  this  way  a  light,  lemon-colored  tincture  is  obtained, 
strongly  charged  with  the  bitter  principle  of  the  bryony,  and  so 
active  that  eight  drops,  when  taken  by  the  author,  produced  a 
decided  purgative  effect. 
By  spontaneous  evaporation  in  flat  capsules,  a  second  product 
is  obtained  of  a  light  yellowish  color,  having  an  extreme  bitter- 
ness, soluble  in  water  and  alcohol,  insoluble  in  sulphuric  ether, 
unalterable  by  the  alkalies  as  well  as  by  chlorine,  soluble  in 
sulphuric  acid  with  the  production  of  a  blue  color,  etc.  It  is 
colored  green  with  disengagement  of  ammonia  by  heat,  is  pre- 
cipitated white  by  nitrate  of  silver,  sub-acetate  of  lead  and  pro- 
tonitrate  of  mercury,  &c,  and  in  fact,  behaves  just  as  the  pure 
bryonin,  resulting  from  the  processes  of  Brandes  and  Dulong. 
The  yield  is  about  a  sixteenth  of  the  bryony  employed.  It 
purges  more  or  less  powerfully,  according  as  it  is  taken,  in  the 
liquid  form  or  in  pills,  two  grains  in  the  liquid  form  having  pro- 
duced four  evacuations. 
