The constituents of chaulmoogra seeds / by Frederick B. Power and Frank H. Gornall.

  • Frederick Belding Power
Date:
[1904]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: The constituents of chaulmoogra seeds / by Frederick B. Power and Frank H. Gornall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Experimental. An opportunity having been afforded us of obtaining a large quan- tity of fresh Ohaulmoogra seeds, which had been brought into the London market, it was decided to make a complete investigation of them. They were identified as the product of TaraTctogenos Kurzii (King). On bruising the seeds, it was observed that a strong odour of hydro- cyanic acid was developed. This indicated that it existed in the form of some unstable compound which became hydrolysed through the action of an enzyme. The hydrocyanic acid, after being further identified by qualitative tests, was quantitatively determined as follows ; a quantity of the bruised kernels was digested with water for two days in a tightly-closed flask at a temperature of about 23°; steam was then passed through the liquid and the distillate titrated with a decinormal solution of silver nitrate. The amount of hydrocyanic acid corresponded with 0'036 per cent, of the weight of the kernels. When the seeds have been kept for some time, even in a dry place and with the shells unbroken, they no longer furnish hydrocyanic acid in contact with water or by the action of dilute acids. In operating with several hundredweights of the seeds, the shells, which were first separated, represented 34 per cent, of their weight. The kernels, when subjected to powerful hydraulic pressure, yielded an amount of fixed oil corresponding with 30'9 per cent, of the entire seed. The residual “press-cake” represented 32’2 per cent, of the original weight of the seeds. A portion of the kernels, when completely extracted with ether in a Soxhlet apparatus, afforded 55 per cent, of their weight of fixed oil, corresponding with 38’1 per cent, of the entire seed (having 30'7 per cent, of shells). Examination of the ^‘Press-cake.” This material, when received directly from the press, exhaled a large amount of hydrocyanic acid, and, when kept for a comparatively short time, the compound from which the latter substance was developed became completely decomposed. Isolation of a Hydrolytic Enzyme, A portion of the press-cake was digested with water at the ordinary temperature and expressed. To the clear, filtered liquid about twice its volume of alcohol was added, when an abundant, iight-coloured, flocculent precipitate was obtained, which was collected, washed with a little alcohol, and dried in a desiccator over sulphuric acid When
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