alkaloids was found to be 0.4 percent. A newly collected 
botanically verified specimen of Banvzsteriopsis Caapt 
analyzed at the same time was found to contain 0.5 per 
cent alkaloids (5). The latter material contained as de- 
scribed by many authors the main alkaloids harmine, 
harmaline and tetrahydroharmine (6). In addition, it 
contained two minor components that will be described 
separately (5). By contrast, the alkaloid content of the 
Spruce material consisted exclusively of harmine. This 
was proven beyond any doubt by gas chromatography 
and the combination of gas chromatography-mass spec- 
trometry. As evident from both the gas chromatograms 
(Plate X XXII) and the mass spectra (Plate XX XIII), 
there is complete identity between synthetic harmine 
and the alkaloid in Spruce’s material. It is open to 
question whether the stems sent home by Spruce in 
1858 from the beginning contained only harmine or 
perhaps more likely that harmaline and tetrahydrohar- 
mine have with time been transformed into the chemi- 
cally more stable aromatic $-carboline, harmine. 
Under any circumstances, it is remarkable that 
Spruce’s query about the chemical analysis of the ma- 
terial that fared so badly on its way from the Amazonian 
rain forest to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew has 
been answered by modern analytical microtechniques 
115 years later. 
This investigation was supported by grant MH 12007- 
03 (Holmstedt) and by grant LM-GM _ 00071-01 
(Schultes) from the National Institute of Mental 
Health, U.S. Public Health Service. We are indebted 
to Sir George Taylor, Director of the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, Kew, Surrey, England, for supplying us with 
the material from Spruce’s original collection. 
[ 129 ) 
