402  Verbena  Urticcefolia. 
a  decoction.  The  fresh  root  is  also  considered  to  be  of  some  medi- 
cinal value,  an  infusion  of  the  root  having  been  administered 
with  assured  advantage  in  intermittent  fevers.  The  taste  of  this 
infusion  would  lead  one  to  suppose  the  medicinal  activity  to  be  due 
to  a  bitter  principle. 
In  view  of  the  above  statements  concerning  this  plant,  it  was 
thought  that  a  chemical  examination  of  the  root  might  be  of  inter- 
est. For  this  purpose  a  quantity  was  collected  by  the  author  near 
Henderson,  Kentucky,  during  the  summer  of  1 891.  It  was  carefully 
dried,  and  a  proximate  analysis  made  during  the  past  winter,  with 
the  following  results. 
Fifty  grams  of  the  dried  and  finely  powdered  root  were  extracted 
with  petroleum  ether,  which  removed  0-91  per  cent,  of  a  substance 
consisting  of  a  volatile  oil,  fat  and  caoutchouc.  Stronger  ether 
extracted  from  the  remaining  drug  0-55  per  cent,  of  resin. 
Absolute  alcohol  next  extracted  274  per  cent.  This  extract  was 
found  to  possess  the  bitterness  of  the  original  drug.  It  was  there- 
fore dissolved  in  a  small  quantity  of  alcohol,  and  poured  into 
acidulated  water.  The  solution  thus  obtained  was  filtered  from  the 
precipitated  resin,  and  found  to  hold  the  bitter  principle.  This 
aqueous  solution  was  then  agitated  with  petroleum  ether,  followed 
by  an  agitation  with  ether.  Both  of  these  solvents  removed  a  crys- 
talline substance,  the  character  of  which  was  not  fully  determined, 
but  from  experiments  made  with  it  appeared  to  be  an  acid.  The 
aqueous  solution  was  then  agitated  with  chloroform,  which 
extracted  a  substance  with  a  bitterish  and  slightly  nauseous  taste. 
This  amorphous  principle  was  dissolved  in  water,  and  a  portion 
tested  for  glucose  with  Fehling's  solution,  which  gave  a  negative 
result.  Another  portion  was  then  boiled  for  fifteen  minutes  with 
very  dilute  hydrochloric  acid,  neutralized  and  tested  with  Fehling's 
solution,  which  now  gave  abundant  evidence  of  the  presence  of 
glucose.  This  principle,  therefore,  with  a  taste  identical  with  the 
original  drug,  was  undoubtedly  a  glucoside.  The  aqueous  solution 
remaining  from  the  agitation  with  chloroform  had  lost  its  bitter 
taste,  and  nothing  further  was  removed  by  making  it  alkaline  and 
again  extracting  with  the  above  immiscible  solvents,  this  indicating 
the  absence  of  an  alkaloid.  The  above  glucoside  was  not  further 
examined  on  account  of  the  difficulty,  at  that  season  of  the  year, 
of  obtaining  a  further  supply  of  material  from  which  to  extract  it. 
/  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\        Aug.,  1892. 
