[ 11-* ] 



XVI. On the Constitution of Bebeei'ine. 

 By Dr. A. von Pianta*. 



THE earliest observations on bebeerine were made by Dr. 

 Roflie of Demerara, in the year 1834. He discovered it 

 in the bark of a tree known in that colony by the name of Be- 

 beeru, which has been since described by Sir R. Schombui'gk, 

 and named Nectandra Rodiei in honour of its discoverer. 



A more minute investigation, both of its chemical and medi- 

 cinal properties, was published by Dr. Douglas Maclagan in the 

 year 1843t- He established its basic properties, and described 

 its salts ; and at a subsequent period, in concert with Dr. Tilley J, 

 analysed the base itself and its platinum compound. 



Since then no further observations have been made on bebee- 

 rine, although few bases possess more interest, both on account 

 of its medicinal properties, which during the last few years have 

 brought it into gradually increasing use as a substitute for the 

 cinchona alkaloids, and the fact that the analyses of Maclagan 

 and Tilley give for it exactly the same formula as that of morphia. 

 This constitution, however, requires confirmation; and I have 

 accordingly undertaken the reinvestigation of bebeerine in the 

 laboratorjf, and under the direction of Dr. Anderson of Edinburgh. 



As bebeerine occurs in commerce only in an extremely impure 

 state, I was obliged myself to undertake the troublesome and 

 laborious process of its purification. For this purpose I made 

 use of the sulphate, which is met with in the shops in the form 

 of dark brown uncrystalline scales, and I employed at first the 

 same process as that pursued by Maclagan and Tilley for the 

 preparation of the bebeerine analysed by them. This process is 

 as follows : — The impure sulphate of bebeerine is dissolved in 

 water, the bebeerine precipitated by ammonia, and, after being 

 thoroughly washed, mixed, while still moist, with freshly preci- 

 pitated hydrated oxide of lead. The mixture is then carefully 

 dried in the water-bath, exhausted with sether and distilled, 

 when the bebeerine is left in the form of a light brown resinous 

 mass, which is dried and reduced to powder. By this process, 

 however, I found it impossible to obtain a product which could 

 be considered as pure. It invariably retained appreciable quan- 

 tities of a substance resembling tannin, the presence of which 

 was most characteristically indicated by the action of heat. If 

 such bebeerine, which in powder is almost perfectly white, be 



* Communicated by the Author, having been read before the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh. 



t Transactions of tlie Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. xv. Edinburgh 

 Medical and Surgical Journal, No. 163. 



I London and Edinbiugh Philosophical Magazine,Ser.3. vol.x.\vii.p. 253. 



