76 The Philippine Journal of Science 1915 
sufficient length of time,’* I am unable to state. Painful inflam- 
mation occasionally results at the point of injection. Further- 
more the present form of treatment is too complicated to permit 
of emetine being used as a household remedy or as a prophy- 
lactic.* It is for the purpose of simplifying the treatment, and 
increasing its efficiency, if that be possible, that I bring to your 
notice the compounds emetine mercuric iodide and emetine 
bismuthous iodide. 
EMETINE MERCURIC IODIDE 
Emetine mercuric iodide was prepared by precipitating an 
acidified aqueous solution of emetine hydrochloride** with 
Mayer’s reagent,” collecting and washing the precipitate with 
water, and drying in the air at a temperature below 50° C. The 
samples used for analysis were dried over sulphuric acid. The 
composition of the resulting precipitate was found to vary with 
the concentration of the solution. Table II shows the approxi- 
mate composition of the compound obtained on precipitation in 
the dilution 1 to 300.'° 
* Wherry found that emetine killed the entamcebz in dilutions of from 
1: 20,000 to 1: 100,000 only after 24 hours at a temperature of from 36° 
to 88° C. Journ. Infect. Dis. (1912), 10, 162-5. 
* Willets has pointed out the fact that entamcebic dysentery in an in- 
fected individual can be prevented and that prophylaxis against carriers 
of Entameba histolytica can be obtained by expelling the pathogenic enta- 
moebe from the intestines of infected persons. He found ipecae more 
efficacious than emetine for this purpose. This Journal, Sec. B (1914), 
9, 94. 
“The emetine hydrochloride obtained from Merck and Co. and labeled 
“Nach Paul” was found to contain cephaéline. The cephaéline was sep- 
arated according to the method of Paul and Cownley, and the purified 
emetine hydrochloride was used in the above preparation. 
* Mayer’s reagent was prepared by dissolving 1.344 grams of mercuric 
chloride and 5 grams of potassium iodide in 100 grams of distilled water. 
U.S. P. 8th rev. (1905), 529. 
* No direct estimation of the alkaloidal content of the precipitate was 
made, the analyses being conducted as follows: A weighed quantity of the 
precipitate dried over sulphuric acid was dissolved in hot alcohol acidulated 
with sulphuric acid. Silver nitrate solution was then added to precipitate 
the iodine; the precipitate was washed on the filter with hot water, dried 
at 100° C., and weighed. The filtrate was treated with a slight excess of 
hydrochloric acid, and the silver chloride was filtered out, after which hy- 
drogen sulphide was passed in and the resulting mereury sulphide collected, 
washed, dried at 100° C., and weighed. After having found the iodine 
and mercury, the fraction of hydrogen for the HI of the assumed formula 
was added, and the difference was taken as alkaloid. 
