91 



crystalline solid, of a relatively insoluble character, the other a 

 body of a somewhat more soluble nature. The former he con- 

 sidered to be isomeric with morphine, and he termed it "iso- 

 morphine," the latter he called "hopein." WILLIAMSON further 

 states that these alkaloids occur in certain species of American wild 

 hops to the extent of 0*15 per cent. They are only present in very 

 small quantities in European hops. 



LADENBURG (Bev. ig, 783) proved beyond all manner of doubt 

 that WILLIAMSON'S " iso-morphine " is actually morphine, but he 

 was unable to identify or to closely characterise the " hopein." 



The presence of morphine in hops is extremely interesting, 

 and may account for the well-known narcotic effects of some 

 heavily-hopped beers a narcotic effect which is admittedly not to 

 be explained by the alcoholic contents alone. It is true that 

 WILLIAMSON could only find infinitesimal quantities of the 

 alkaloids referred to in any hops other than certain American 

 species, but the total number of specimens examined (in view of 

 the great number of existing varieties) was relatively small. 



Recently KOLOMAN FARKAS (Archiv. Physiol. 1902, 92, 61) 

 has made some interesting pharmacological experiments with 

 " hopein." He finds that when injected into the veins it acts as a 

 strong cardiac poison, but that when administered by the mouth or 

 into the blood (intra-venously) it is comparatively harmless. 



