38 REPOET — 1875. 



alcohol,, separating as a vamisli wliich becomes a mass , of crystals .on moistening 

 with a di'op of dilute hydi-ochloric or nitric acid ; this base appears to be almost 

 inert, its salts possessing a bitter taste, not producing the prickling of the tongue 

 characteristic of the aconites, and, according to Mr. Groves's observations, producing 

 no result when swallowed by the human subject in half-grain doses. 



From the mixture of nitrates a base was extracted (by means of spontaneous 

 evaporation of the ethereal solution of the mixed free bases) which crystallized 

 readily from ethei- in small anhydrous crystals, producing energetically the aconite 

 tongue-prickling, and forming well-crystallized salts ; the yield of pure base from 

 2 cwt. of roots was, however, very small, being only a very few grams. This sub- 

 stance gave numbers agreeing with the formula CggH^jNOj,, the air-diy hydro- 

 chloride containing SH^O; the body answered to the description of crystalline 

 "aconitine" given by Duquesnel; but the formula arrived at by this chemist was 



The base from A. ferox gave numbers agi'eeing with the formula G^^ Hjg NOu ; 

 it crystallizes in indistinct crystals from ether and alcohol by spontaneous evapora- 

 tion : its salts refuse to crystallize, di-ying up to varnishes. On leaving the freshly 

 precipitated free base in contact with water and emulsin a change is produced, a 

 salt of an alkaloid not yet investigated being gradually formed in solution ; no 

 glucose, however, can be detected in the liquid. 



Apparently the two last described bases of the aconites are readily alterable ; on 

 treating with mercuric iodide dissolved in potassium iodide the solution of then- 

 salts, iodo-mercurates, are precipitated ; and on decomposing these with sulphu- 

 retted hydrogen, removing iodine by lead acetate and regenerating the bases by 

 ammonia and ether, substances were in each case obtained possessing apparently a 

 lower molecular weight than the original base used {i. e. the gold salt contained a 

 somewhat larger percentage of gold). One specimen of the A. ferox base thus re- 

 generated from the iodo-mercurate by Mr. Groves was magniticeutly crystalline, 

 forming well-defined rhombohedra ; whilst that examined by the authors (prepared 

 by Mr. Groves from a different batch of roots) was only indistinctly crystalline, 

 and quite different in appearance under the microscope. These and other analogous 

 circumstances observed lead us to conjecture that either the constituents of the 

 roots are variable under diiferent conditions of soil, climate, &c., or that the alka- 

 loids originally present are apt to undergo considerable changes during the process 

 of extraction. 



On Japanese CamjiTior from Peppermint. By G. H. Beckett and C. R. Alder 

 "Weikht, D.Sc., Lecturer on Chemistry in St. Mary's Hospital Medical School. 



Oppenheim has sho\\Ti that this camphor is a monatomic alcohol indicated by 

 the formula Cn, Hj,, . OH, and that by the action of dehydrating agents it loses the 

 elements of water, forming a hydrocarbon, menthene, 0,,, H,^. 



Through the kindness of Mr. John Moss (Messrs. Corbyn and Co.) we received a 

 quantity of this camphor, and obtained the following corrected values for the 

 melting- and boiling-points of the pm-iiied substance and its derivative menthene : — 



Camphor, melting-point 42° (in capillary tube). 



„ boUiag-point 212°. 



Menthene, „ lG4°-5 to 165°-5. 



Mr. Moss found 39° as the melting-point and 37°-5 as the solidifying point of 

 another specimen of camphor less completely purified ; whilst Oppenheim gives 36° 

 as the melting-point and 210" as the boiling-point of the camphor, and 103° as the 

 boiling-point of menthene. 



On cautiously adding four equivalents of bromine to menthene combination takes 

 place, energetically at first, more slowly ultimately. The final product, C,„H,^Br4, 

 may be regarded as a derivative of a marsh-gas homologue, Ck, Ha.,, i- e- as tetra- 

 bromo-decane ; on heating, this substance breaks up into cymme auc[ hydrobromic 

 acid; thus : — 



C,oHj,Br, = 4HBr -f C,,li,,. 



