[47] Moor, N. Y. Med. Rec. 45 (1894), 200.
[48] Bull. No. 26, U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. of Bot. 47.
[49] Lacerda, Comptes rendus 93 (1881) 466-469.
[50] Amer. Jour. Med. Sci. 52 (1866), 285.
SUMMARY.
Leaves and flowers of the poison ivy plant were extracted with ether and the ether was removed by evaporation. In the residue, the following substances were found and studied: gallic acid, fisetin, the sugar rhamnose, and a poisonous tar, gum, or wax.
The lead compound of the poison was soluble in ether; this fact gave a means of separating the poisonous substance from the non-poisonous matter in one operation.
The poison was not volatile with vapor of acetic acid, or with vapor of alcohol.
The poisonous tar or wax was decomposed by acids and yielded gallic acid, fisetin, and rhamnose, showing the probable source of these compounds in the plant, and indicating that the poison is a complex substance of a glucoside nature.