336 J.C Marquart's Report of the Progress of Phytochemistry 



Pelletier further proved that there could be no doubt as to the 

 existence of the narceia which he had discovered in opium; 

 that the codeia discovered by Robiquet is not the result of 

 the reaction of a certain substance in the opium; that from 

 one and the same quantity of opium, narcotina, morphia, nar- 

 ceia, meconia, codeia and paramorphia might be obtained. 

 Of particular interest to physiology is the examination of 

 opium obtained from heads of poppies cultivated on the grounds 

 of General Lamarque at Eyris, DepU des Landes. Pelletier 

 found in it no trace of narcotina ; on the other hand, a much 

 larger quantity of morphia than in the oriental opium. There 

 was also, excepting a small quantity of codeia, none of the 

 other constituent parts cf the oriental opium to be found in it. 

 We have, however, received notice that some opium grown 

 in Sicily contained quite as much morphia as the oriental : on 

 the contrary, Winckler* found in the unripe heads of poppies 

 cultivated on the Bergstrasse only a small quantity of codeia, 

 rather plenty of narcotina, and no trace of morphia. 



The latest discovery in this part of phytochemistry is the 

 preparation of pure quassin, the long-suspected base (and 

 as such received) of the wood of Quassia amara, in which 

 Winckler f succeeded. He obtained it in the form of small 

 colourless columns possessing a dull lustre, which were easily 

 soluble in water and alcohol and insoluble in aether. Their 

 solutions possess an alkaline action, taste exceedingly bitter, 

 and are precipitated by tannin. 



The following, to which different names have been given, 

 do not belong to a less distinguished section of vegetable sub- 

 stances. We consider them as the so-called extractive mat- 

 ters in their purest state, which often appear crystalline, 

 dissolve in water and alcohol, at times in aether also, and 

 whose solutions are neutral. The greatest part of De Can- 

 dolle's:}: hyperhydrogenous substances, or substances similar 

 to resins, belong to this place: we find however his designa- 

 tion very inappropriate. 



Lasch extracted salicin §, with which we were previously 

 acquainted, also from the female catkins and young branches 

 of several species of willows. Tischhauser || obtained it from 

 the bark, and Herbergerf from the leaves of willows along 

 with populin, with however four times as much of the former 

 as of the latter. Landerer** prepared from young oranges 

 cultivated in Greece, the bitter-tasting hesperidin, which was 



• Buchn. Bepert.y vol. liii. part 3. f Ibid., vol. liv. part 1. 



i Physiologie, German Transl. by Roeper, p. 327- [Original edition, 

 Paris, 1832, vol. i., p. 350.— Edit.] § Archiv fur die Pharm., vol. i. 



|| Berliner Jahrbuchcr,xxx\v. 2. % Bnchn. Bwpert.', vol. li. part 1. 



•* Ibid., vol. Hi. part 2. 



