CEPHAELIS IPECACUANHA. ORD. IV. Aggregate. 17 
quality.* M. M. Pelletierand Magendie found that the cephaélis Ipecacuanha, 
Viola emetica, and Psychotira emetica, contain a common principle, which 
they named emetine; to obtain which, they digested the powdered root in 
double its weight of ether, in order to separate any fatty matter; the re- 
mainder was heated with four times its weight of highly rectified alcohol, 
until it ceased to become coloured, even when aided by heat. The solution 
was evaporated to dryness, and re-dissolved in water, acetate of lead being 
dropped into the solution; the precipitate, which falls, is to be diffused 
through water, and exposed to a current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. Sul- 
- phuret.of lead falls to the bottom, and the emetine remains in solution. The 
solution being again evaporated to dryness, the emetine appears in the form 
of transparent scales ofa reddish brown colour, nearly devoid ef odour, and 
the taste is bitter, but not very nauseous. It is capable of supporting the heat 
of boiling water, without undergoing any change, is very deliquescent, 
soluble in water, and incrystallizable. 
Emetine, as above prepared, is not quite pure. To obtain pure emetine, 
_ powder the ipecacuanha, and digest it in ether at sixty degrees, to dissolve 
the fatty, odorous, matter. When the powder yields nothing more to the 
ether, exhaust it again, by means of alcohol. Place the alcoholic tincture 
in a water-bath, and re-dissolve the residue in cold water: it thus loses a 
portion of wax, and a little of the fatty matter which still remained. Mace- 
rate iton calcined magnesia, by which it loses its gallic acid,—and re-dissolve 
it in aleohol. The emetine, thus isolated and rendered less soluble, is pre- 
cipitated in combination with the excess of magnesia. This magnesian 
precipitate, after being washed by means of a little very cold water, to 
separate the colouring matter, which is not combined with the magnesia, 
must be carefully dried, and digested in alcohol, which dissolves the emetine. 
After the emetine has been separated from the alcohol by evaporation, it 
should be re-dissolved in a diluted acid, and blanched by digestion with 
purified animal charcoal: it must then be precipitated by a salifiable base.t 
Pure emetine is white, pulverulent, and unalterable by the air; although 
coloured emetine is deliquescent. It is scarcely soluble in water, but readily 
* According to the analysis of M.M. Pelletier and Magendie, the components of 
ipecacuanha, are :—Oil, 2: Wax, 6: Gum, 10: Emetine, 16: Starch, 40: Wood, 20: 
Loss, 6=100.—Annales de ‘Chimie, iv. 180. 
+ Magendie’s Formulary. 
No. 3. , D 
