Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Feb..  1892.  ] 
Commercial  Goa  Powders. 
93 
red  powder,  insoluble  in  alcohol,  water,  and  light  petroleum,  very 
soluble  in  chloroform,  but  only  sparingly  in  ether ;  it  blackens  at 
2500,  and  melts  with  decomposition  above  2700.  On  evaporating 
the  mixture  of  alcohol  and  chloroform  from  which  this  compound 
is  deposited,  a  white  powder  is  left,  which  melts  at  720,  and  yields 
benzoic  acid  when  boiled  with  potash  solution ;  a  sufficient  quantity 
for  complete  examination  could  not  be  obtained. 
The  substance  a  is  boiled  with  alcoholic  potash,  the  alcohol 
evaporated,  the  residue  taken  up  with  water,  and  extracted  with 
ether ;  on  evaporation,  a  yellow  powder  is  obtained,  showing  the 
color  reactions  of  chloresterol,  but  melting  at  5 2°  and  having  the 
composition  C30H50O2;  this  compound  the  author  names  condu 
ransterin. 
The  aqueous  solution  remaining  after  extraction  of  the  condu- 
ransterin  by  ether  contains  cinnamic  acid. 
The  original  extract  B  has  not  yet  been  fully  examined. 
REPORT  ON  COMMERCIAL  GOA  POWDERS. 
By  W.  Duncan  and  T.  S.  Tweedie. 
»  Goa  or  Araroba  powder,  or  poh'di  bahia,  or  as  it  was  called  by 
Kemp,  "  chrysarobine,"  made  its  appearance  in  British  pharmacy 
about  sixteen  years  ago,  and  at  that  time  Professor  Attfield  read  a 
paper  on  its  composition  at  an  evening  meeting  of  the  Pharma- 
ceutical Society  in  Edinburgh.  The  sample  of  the  drug  on  which 
he  worked  was  presented  to  him  by  Mr.  D.  Kemp,  of  Bombay.  In 
that  paper  Professor  Attfield  [Pharmaceutical  Journal  [3],  vol.  v; 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1875,  330)  states  that  he  obtained  from  80  to  84 
per  cent,  of  an  active  principle  which  he  identified  as  chrysophanic 
acid.  In  a  subsequent  research  by  Liebermann  and  Seidler  (Ibid.  [3] , 
vol.  ix ;  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  1879,  p.  80)  it  was  shown  that  the  active 
principle  consisted  essentially  of  a  substance  which  by  oxidation  readily 
yielded  chrysophanic  acid,  and  to  this  they  gave  the  name  "  chrys- 
arobin."  This  title,  of  which  we  heard  so  much  in  1885,  when  the 
present  Pharmacopoeia  came  out,  is  now  by  common  consent  confined 
to  the  purified  article  or  so-called  "  chrysophanic  acid  "  of  commerce. 
The  doubts  on  this  point  have  been  cleared  up  by  the  insertion  in 
later  reprints  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  the  words,  "  as  purified  by 
solvents."  This  purified  article  has  almost  entirely  taken  the  place 
of  the  crude  drug,  but  from  our  own  experience  we  have  reason  to 
