116 TRANSACTIONS OF THE fMAR. 21, 



oily basic bodies and proved that they were pyridine and chinoline, 

 or, as the Englishmen call it, quinoline. 



In 1842, Gerhardt, the Frenchman, distilled quinine and cinchonine 

 with caustic potash and obtained chinoline. 



Later on, Professor A. W. Hofmann showed that the chinoline 

 from quinine and cinchonine was proliably the same as that obtained 

 from bone-oil by Anderson and from coal-tar by Runge. 



Here, then, was the first dawning light to show the way to make 

 quinine and cinchonine artificially. This chinoline is evidently an 

 important factor in the constitution of quinine in the same manner 

 that aniline, another organic base, is an important factor in the 

 production of aniline colors ; but to-day we are not able to make 

 quinine artificially. 



As a result of the production of chinoline from quinine it is 

 found that other alkaloids give this same oil}^ base and its analogue, 

 pyridine. It is therefore the belief of the chemist that we shall 

 some day be able to make alkaloids from other sources than the 

 plants from which they are derived. Thus the alkaloid of bella- 

 donna is a pyridine compound. In the year 1883, Hoogewerf and 

 van Dorp proved that the chinoline from coal-tar and that obtained 

 from quinine were identically the same substance. In the follow- 

 ing year, 1884, Skraup discovered a process for making chinoline 

 artificially. This was accomplished Ijy heating together aniline, 

 nitrobenzol, gl^'cerine, and sulphuric acid. 



Hitherto the production of chinoline was dependent on the yield 

 from bone-oil and coal-tar, and the amount obtained from these 

 sources was small. But here was a process invented by Skraup in 

 which it could be made in unlimited quantities. The result of the 

 artificial production of chinoline was to stimulate research upon 

 this body and its analogues ; and the first fruit of these researches 

 was the production of kairine, an alkaloid hitherto unknown to 

 man and similar to quinine in its effect upon the human frame, 

 although not good as an antiperiodic. It is really a pyridine com- 

 pound. Another compound derived from the same base is thalline. 

 This is another alkaloid of similar eff'ect to quinine ; that is, it re- 

 duces fever temperature, but its effects do not last so long. 



Yery soon after the artificial production of chinoline, antipyrine 

 was made, and it has proved a most potent addition to the drugs of 

 the pharmacopoeia. This is a chinoline compound. It is a reducer 

 of fever temperature to a remarkable extent, ncting in 4 to 6 hours. 

 It also is an analgesic, and reduces the sensibility to pain without 

 complete anaesthesia. 



You note that I refrain from giving you any chemical formulae 

 of these new substances, but I will take antipyrine as an example — 

 if you will allow me to torture you that much. 



