Am.  Jour,  Pharm.\ 
March,  1892.  J 
Oleoresins. 
147 
a  not  unpleasant  odor,  and  sp.  gr.  0800  to  -802  at  I5°C.  On 
evaporation  it  leaves  no  residue  and  distils  over  almost  entirely 
between  550  and  6o°C,  and  is  nearly  absolutely  pure  acetone.  It 
is  miscible  with  alcohol,  ether  and  water,  and  can  be  easily  distilled 
on  the  water-bath,  boiling  evenly  and  without  that  bumping  that  is 
usually  so  noticeable  in  wood  products  It  can  be  procured  at  a 
cost  of  20  to  30  cts.  a  pound  less  than  concentrated  ether,  and  the 
loss  in  handling  and  distilling  is  considerably  less  than  with  the 
latter.  As  it  possesses  remarkable  solvent  power,  being  an  excellent 
solvent  for  many  of  the  alkaloids  and  neutral  principles  as  well  as 
for  oils  and  resins,  I  predict  that  in  the  future  it  will  be  found  a 
useful  solvent  in  pharmacy  and  chemistry. 
It  was  found  that  as  with  ether  the  first  portion  of  the  percolate 
contained  nearly  all  the  medicinal  ingredients  of  the  drug,  so  that  it 
is  unnecessary  to  continue  the  percolation  after  2  cc.  of  percolate  are 
obtained  for  each  gramme  of  ground  drug  used.  While  in  the 
experiments  of  the  writer  the  percolation  was  continued  until  the 
drug  was  exhausted,  in  practice  he  would  not  advise  the  continua- 
tion of  percolation  further  than  that  indicated,  as  the  increased  yield 
does  not  compensate  for  the  loss  of  menstruum  incurred. 
In  every  instance  the  powders  were  dried  after  extraction  with 
acetone,  and  these  repercolatea  with  concentrated  ether,  but  with 
the  possible  exception  of  capsicum  (which  I  believe,  it  is  impossible 
to  entirely  exhaust,  even  with  ether),  nothing  of  value  was  yielded 
to  that  solvent.  The  resulting  oleoresins  were  generally  of  excel- 
lent quality  and  the  yield  and  characters  were  nearly  the  same  as 
those  obtained  by  the  use  of  ether.  The  acetone  as  recovered  by 
distillation  from  the  percolates  is  contaminated  somewhat  by  the 
odor  of  the  drug,  and  is  considerably  weakened  by  the  absorption 
of  the  moisture  of  the  drug.  It  should  be  fractionated  over  fresh 
lime  and  is  then  suited  for  subsequent  operations. 
Oleoresma  Aspidii. — The  writer  experienced  considerable  diffi- 
culty in  obtaining  male-fern  fresh  enough  to  use  for  this  purpose, 
and  was  unable  to  collect  any  of  our  indigenous  Aspidium  mar- 
ginale,  Swartz.  That  used  for  the  experiment  was  the  imported 
rhizome  of  Aspidium  Filix-mas,  Swartz,  and  although  the  best 
that  could  be  procured  it  was  not  as  fresh  as  desired.  The  brown 
chaff  and  the  stipes  were  entirely  removed  and  only  selected  pieces 
of  the  peeled  rhizome  were  used,  and  this  will  probably  account  for 
