unpleasant taste. The patients take it well, and it does not produce any disturbances of digestion. The action on the breast becomes evident after the patient has taken the powder for three or four days and has swallowed from 25 to 30 grams. The effect on the breasts is that they become fuller, that the baby is able to suck for a longer period, and that at the end of the meal the mother does not complain of pain in the breasts. The action does not appear to be lost if one discontinues the lactagol for one day, but if one leaves it off for two or three days the secretion becomes less. If one uses it in women, who have already been suckling for some time, one finds it necessary to give nearly double the amount before the action is obtained. — B. M. J. Epitome, August. 6, 1904.
The flowers contain a coloring matter, a glucoside, named gossypetin, C16 H12 O8. It forms glistening, yellow needles, closely resembling quercetin in appearance, and is readily soluble in alcohol, but only very sparingly in water. Concentrated alkaline solutions dissolve it, forming orange-red solutions, which, on agitation and dilution with water, become green, and finally assume a dull brown tint. Ammonia behaves very similarly. Alcoholic lead-acetate gave a deep red precipitate in the cold, passing into dull brown at the boiling point, and alcoholic ferric chloride a dull, olivegreen liquid. Sulphuric acid dissolves it, forming an orange-red solution.
Fusion with alkali.— When gossypetin is fused with caustic potash at 200-220,° two crystalline decomposition products are obtained, melting at 210° and at 194-196° respectively ; these consisted of phloroghucinol and protocatechuic acid. J. Ch. S. 1899 T, p. 825.
When the phenolic constituents of cotton-seed oil are purified by repeated fractionation from acetic acid solution, a crystalline product is obtained which can be further purified by crystallisation from a mixture of alcohol and dilute acetic acid ; this substance, to which the name of gossypol is given, has a composition corresponding fairly well with that required for the formula C13H14O4.
Gossypol crystallises in glistening, golden scales, melts at 188°, dissolves readily in alcohol benzene, chloroform, ether, acetone, or acetic acid, but not in water. Sulphuric acid dissolves it with a beautiful, cherry-red coloration, similar to that observed with impure cotton-oils. Alkalis give a yellow
