270 
ON THE EXTRACT OF RHATANY. 
less soluble matter is obtained by boiling than by cold water, 
proves that some of this principle must undergo a change, 
which change seems proportioned to the length of time the 
root is exposed to the temperature of ebullition, in contact 
with the atmosphere. 
Having now exposed most of the views which have been 
offered on this subject by the more prominent authorities, it 
remains to detail the results of some observations I have 
made. 
One thousand parts of rhatany root of good quality, vary- 
ing from one-half to one-tenth of an inch in diameter, were 
carefully decorticated, and found to consist of 
Bark, 560 parts. 7 
Wood, 440 " 5 1000 
The bark and wood were then separately reduced to mode- 
rately fine powder. 
1st. One hundred parts of the powdered bark was mace- 
rated for eight hours in diluted alcohol, and then subjected to 
displacement until 600 parts of tincture was obtained. This, 
when evaporated to dryness, produced 52 parts of dry ex- 
tract, of which 30 per cent, was insoluble in cold water. 
2d. One hundred parts of the powdered bark was mace- 
rated in SOO parts of water for eight hours, boiled for twenty- 
five minutes and strained. The decoction yielded 45.5 parts 
of dry extract, of which 48 per cent, was insoluble in cold 
water. 
3d. The same quantity of the powdered bark, after mace- 
ration for eight hours, was subjected to displacement until 
600 parts of cold infusion was obtained. This, on evapora- 
tion, produced 33 parts of dry extract, of which only 1.6 per 
cent was insoluble matter. 
4th. One hundred parts of the powdered wood, by dis- 
placement with cold water, yielded 6.8 parts of extract. 
5th. One hundred parts of the wood, boiled in the same 
manner as the bark, yielded 6.6 parts of extract. 
From these observations it is evident that the ligneous por- 
tion of the root affords but little extract, compared with the 
