Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/67

Rh (acetate, needles, m, 222°), oxidized by Cr03 in HOAc to akundaric acid, isolated as the stiver salt, C38H59O3 Ag, faintly green, amorphous. Sapon. of (C) gave mudarol (E), C80H4302, hexagonal plates, m. 176° (acetate, needles, m. 195—6°), oxidized to mudaric acid, amorphous, m. 225°, purified through the silver salt C30H45O3 Ag, faintly green, amorphous. (B), (C), and their alcs, gave color reactions very similar to those of cholesterol and phytosterol. A little (D) in 2 cc. CHC13, treated with 20 drops Ac2O and 1 drop H2S04, gave the usual violet-pink color, while (E) gave an intense blue. The resinous material evolved NH3 and amines when boiled with concd, aq. KOH, and was finally purified to a hard, brittle mass of the comp. C34H47O12N. (Chemical Abstracts, Jan. 10, 1916 p. 41.)

No crystalline derivative could be isolated from the guttapercha-like substance and no alkaloid could be isolated, although the yellow bitter principle gave the usual alkaloidal reactions.

The following results were obtained from quantitative experiments on the powdered barks : —

It will be seen that the root-bark from the older plants has a higher percentage of acrid and bitter resinous matters than that from the younger plants. In this connection attention should be drawn to a remark made some years ago by Moodeen Sheriff of Madras. In the Supplement to the Pharmacopœia of India, page 364, he reports that he found that the older the plant, the more active is the bark in its effects. (Hooper).

The latex of C. procera contains a rennet ferment, which, like those present in the fig, papaw, etc., coagulates boiled milk more rapidly than raw milk and is very resistent to heat. Its action is inhibited by mercuric chloride, but not by salts of the alkali metals. (J. Ch. S. A. II. p. 977.)

Calotropis procera. — A new Heart Drug acting like Digitalis.— L. Lewin., Berlin. Arch. exp. Path. Pharm. 71, 142-56. The physiologically active substance is found in the milky juice of the plant, in which it may be preserved for years without fermentation. The milk coagulates upon long standing or by the addition of alc. or Me2CO. D=1062 reacts alk. The white, resin-like