lioyal Society, 535 



are so rich in nitrogen, and which occur in such abundance in many- 

 plants. What renders the neglect of these substances the more re- 

 markable, is the consideration that coal has been one of the most 

 productive sources of the alkaloids, yielding them, as it does, four 

 other bases besides ammonia. Now as coal is universally admitted 

 to be of vegetable origin, and to consist of the remains of a variety 

 of extinct vegetables, the nitrogenous principles of which must be 

 regarded as the sources of the bases which it yields, it seemed to the 

 author not unreasonable to expect, that, by acting on the nitrogenous 

 principles of recent vegetables, the same organic bases as those ob- 

 tained from coal, or at any rate a series of analogous bases, would be 

 obtained in still greater abundance; and it subsequently appeared that 

 this latter expectation was not altogether without foundation. 



From the difficulty of procuring vegetable albumen, fibrine, &c. 

 in a state of even tolerable purity, those portions of plants (usually 

 their seeds) were selected which contain those principles in the greatest 

 abundance. 



In the first instance, a quantity of Phaseolus communis, or common 

 horse-bean, was destructively distilled in a cast-iron cylinder, and 

 the products collected by means of a large condensing Liebig's appa- 

 ratus. These products closely resembled those obtained from the 

 distillation of bones and other animal matters, comprising among 

 other substances acetic acid, empyreumatic oils, tar, a great deal of 

 ammonia and several organic alkaloids. The crude product was super- 

 saturated with muriatic acid, and the clear liquid decanted after the 

 tar had subsided. The acid liquor was next passed through a cloth 

 filter, which removed the greater portion of the resinous matter. 

 The clear liquid was then poured into a capacious still, and super- 

 saturated with carbonate of soda. When the liquid began to boil, 

 much ammonia was disengaged, and a quantity of oily bases col- 

 lected in the receiver. Their amount increased as the distillation 

 proceeded. These bases were separated from the ammoniacal liquid 

 by means of a pipette, and were purified by suitable processes which 

 it is unnecessary to particularize. These bases, though they were 

 found to vary very considerably in their boiling-points and some of 

 their properties, were very similar in other respects. They were 

 transparent colourless oils, which were all of them lighter than water, 

 and refracted the light strongly. Their taste was hot, resembling 

 that of oil of peppermint. They all exhibited strong alkaline re- 

 actions, and neutralized the acids perfectly, forming crystallizable 

 salts. The most curious circumstance respecting them was, that they 

 were apparently quite different from the series of bases obtained 

 from either bones or coal, and contained no aniline. 



One of these bases was isolated and subjected to analysis. It 

 boiled between 150° and 155° C. Its formula was found to be 

 Cjo H,; N, which differs only by two equivalents of hydrogen from 

 nicotine. The only obstacle which has hitherto prevented the se- 

 paration and examination of each of these bases individually, has 

 arisen from the difficulty of procuring them in sufficient quantity. 

 Not that beans when distilled yield bases in so much smaller quan- 



