Am.  Jour.  Phai'ro. 
June.  1892. 
Ghimaphila  Umbellata. 
297 
Miner.  Journal  P/iarm.,  i860,  page  254,  and  later  by  Beshore, 
ibid.,  1887,  125,  but  neither  of  whom  ascertained  its  composition. 
It  can  be  obtained  by  distilling  commercial  Chimaphila  umbellata 
with  water,  during  which  process  it  collects  in  the  condensing 
apparatus  forming  yellow  needles,  the  size  of  which  varies  with  the 
attending  conditions.  When  thickly  matted  together  the  masses 
of  crystals  are  of  an  orange  color. 
The  drug  distilled  in  this  work  was  composed  largely  of  stems 
and  roots ;  no  fruit  was  present. 
The  crystals  were  collected  from  the  distillate  and  recrystallized 
repeatedly  from  alcohol  sp.  gr.  -820,  until  a  constant  melting  point 
was  obtained,  which  was  found  to  be  113-1140  C. 
The  watery  distillate  from  which  the  crystals  were  separated  was 
neutral  in  reaction,  of  a  pale,  yellow  color,  slight  odor  and  taste. 
From  1-5  to  2  kilos  of  freshly-gathered  Chimaphila  maculata  were 
distilled.  No  solid  separated  in  the  condenser  nor  in  the  distillate, 
even  upon  allowing  the  latter  to  stand  for  a  month  to  allow  chance 
for  possible  formation  by  oxidation  of  other  substance.  In  general 
characters  the  distillate  resembled  very  closely  the  one  obtained 
from  the  other  species. 
Another  portion  of  the  same  collection  was  distilled  after  having 
been  allowed  to  dry  in  the  air  of  the  room  for  forty  days.  A 
solid  compound  was  obtained  in  the  distillate  upon  this  occasion 
which  in  physical  properties  closely  resembled  the  similar  substance 
from  Chimaphila  umbellata. 
After  it  had  been  crystallized  from  alcohol,  it  was  found  to  melt 
at  107-1080  C.  After  one  crystallization  the  melting  point  of  the 
substance  from  the  species  umbellata  was  108-109°  C.  The  small 
quantity  of  material  in  the  case  of  the  maculata  forbid  further 
crystallization. 
After  separating  the  crystals  the  distillate  showed  much  resem- 
blance to  the  other  distillates  of  previous  operations. 
The  solubility  of  the  needles  in  the  distillate  was  very  slight. 
Separate  parts  of  both  species  were  now  distilled  to  ascertain  if  it 
could  be  obtained  from  all.  All  parts  (the  fruit  of  the  umbellata 
was  not  distilled)  yielded  it.  The  amount  seemed  to  decrease  in 
the  ascent  from  the  roots  to  the  fruit,  although  no  exact  estimations 
were  made  to  prove  this  statement. 
To  know  of  the  pre-existence  of  the  crystalline  volatile  substance 
