94 
Commercial  Goa  Powders. 
Am.  Jour.  Phariu. 
Feb.,  1892. 
doubt  if  the  purified  article  possesses  the  same  activity  as  an 
equivalent  quantity  of  the  crude  drug.  This  opinion  is  supported 
by  the  statement  of  Martindale  ('  Extra  Pharmacopoeia/  6th  edition, 
p.  108)  that  there  remains  in  the  mother  liquor  from  which 
chrysarobin  has  crystallized,  a  substance  more  active  than  pure 
chrysarobin. 
As  already  pointed  out,  Attfield  found  that  Goa  powder  yielded 
from  8o  to  84  per  cent,  of  chrysarobin.  Liebermann  and  Seidler 
put  it  at  66  per  cent,  and  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  at  54 
per  cent.  For  the  last  four  or  five  years  statements  have  appeared 
to  the  effect  that  the  drug  of  the  present  time  was  much  weaker 
than  formerly,  and  contained  less  chrysarobin.  This  has  been 
attributed  to  the  Brazilians  hewing  down  the  tree  [Andira  Ararobd) 
before  it  has  reached  maturity.  It  was  while  testing  the  value  of 
this  statement  that  the  experiments,  of  which  we  now  give  the 
results,  were  undertaken. 
Chrysarobin  is  readily  extracted  by  hot  benzol,  but  the  difficulties 
of  using  that  solvent  in  a  Soxhlet  apparatus,  decided  us  to  use 
chloroform,  checking  our  results  by  ether.  In  the  '  Extra  Pharma- 
copoeia '  (p.  109)  chrysarobin  is  said  to  be  insoluble  in  ether.  This,* 
we  find,  is  erroneous.  It  is  soluble  in  ether,  but  we  cannot  agree 
with  the  U.  S.  Dispensatory  (16th  edition,  p.  433)  that  it  is  readily 
soluble. 
Ten  commercial  samples  of  Goa  powder  were  examined.  These 
Sample. 
Chrysarobin 
per  cent. 
Moisture 
per  cent. 
Insoluble 
matter  p.  c. 
h  ■■  
76-90 
2-IO 
21 'OO 
55  "5o 
3-00 
4I-50 
80  80 
2 -60 
16*60 
4,  
66 -6o 
2*40 
31-00 
5,  
81 -8o 
2'20 
16  00 
6,  
82-30 
2*20 
IS  SO 
7,  
57-20 
3 '3o 
39*50 
8  
70-80 
1*20 
28*00 
68-85 
2 '90 
28-25 
69*10 
2-90 
28*00 
71*00 
2-50 
26-50 
were  obtained  from  different  sources,  in  order  that  we  might  not 
have  two  of  the  same  sample  to  examine.    Four  of  these  were  in 
