NOTES ON TWO IMPORTANT ALKALOIDAL, REACTIONS. 37 



experiments was conducted with some of the ordinary drug products 

 employed in the manufacture of galenical preparations. It was 

 deemed advisable to work with the drug itself and not with the puri- 

 fied alkaloid, as the former is generally used in the class of products 

 under consideration. An alcoholic extract of the drug was evapo- 

 rated cautiously until the alcohol had been driven off. The residue 

 was then digested with normal sulphuric acid and filtered into a 

 . parator. To remove the basic constituents, ammonium hydroxid 

 was added in excess and the solution shaken three times with Prolius 

 mixture. The solvent was filtered and evaporated, and the residue 

 dissolved in normal sulphuric acid. The solution was filtered into a 

 separator and shaken out, first with chloroform and then with petro- 

 leum ether. Ammonia was then added in excess and the solution 

 shaken out successively with three portions each of petroleum ether 

 (boiling at 30 to 50 C.) and chloroform. The solvent solutions 

 were washed with water and then filtered and evaporated. The resi- 

 dues thus obtained were practically free from any material other than 

 that of an alkaloidal nature, and were virtually of the same character 

 as those obtained in making a systematic analysis of a medicine. 

 Portions of these residues were treated, according to the customary 

 methods of analysis, with nitric acid and, after evaporation, with alco- 

 holic potash; also with sulphuric acid and potassium bichromate. 



In the case of the Vitali reaction, working with the portion removed 

 by the petroleum ether, the addition of alcoholic potash to the dry 

 residue gave a purple color in the case of extracts of belladonna, coca, 

 mix vomica, and yohimbe. The material obtained from aconite, 

 cinchona, colchicum, colocynth, conium, gelsemium, gentian, 

 hydrastis, ipecac, opium, physostigma, pilocarpus, sanguinaria, and 

 Veratrum viride gave no reaction of this character. The portion 

 removed by the chloroform gave a purple color in the cases of bella- 

 donna and yohimbe, but not with mix vomica or coca. The color 

 with nux vomica was very red. Colchicum, though the bulk of the 

 alkaloid had been previously taken out of acid solution by chloroform, 

 gave a residue which showed a faint purple tint, and cinchona a pale 

 purplish pink. 



In the case of sulphuric-acid bichromate reaction the petroleum 

 ether residues from nux vomica, gelsemium, and yohimbe gave a 

 purple color. The chlorof o'rm residues from the same drugs and from 

 hydrastis acted similarly. Colocynth yielded a substance which 

 developed a pinkish purple on standing, but it did not resemble the 

 usual strychnin test. The reaction in the case of colocynth was ob- 

 tained with a sample which had previously been shaken three times 

 with chloroform in acid solution. The extract from sanguinaria gave 

 a pale purple color visible in thin layers. The residue obtained from 

 opium gave a slight purple color most prominent in thin layers. No 



