THE ALKALOID FROM PITURIE. 127 
I. 60 grammes of the substance gave -622 grm. of the alkaloid, 
or 1037 {. In this case the alkaloid was not allowed to boil, but 
was maintained at a temperature of 140° C. ina ee of of hydrogen 
for several hours, to remove water and traces of am 
a second experiment 500 grammes of the. vitae gave 
34 grammes of alkaloid, or 2°47 °/, when distilled in a current 
of hy 
The sitcrie did not contain any non-volatile alkaloid. 
The alkaloid when freshly prepared is clear and colourless, but 
with access of air rapidly becomes yellow, and finally brown, 
especially when exposed to the sunlight. In a sealed tube one 
imen has remained unchanged during the past eight months. 
It is soluble in all proportions in water, alcohol, and ether, 
yielding colourless solutions. On paper it produces a greasy 
hich i 
No determinations by weighing have yet been made of its 
Specific gravity, but it is just a little heavier than water, a drop 
of it sinking slowly to the bottom of a vessel of distilled water. 
When freshly prepared its smell is very like that of nicotine ; 
afterwards, when darkened in colour _ thickened in consistency, 
the odour is more like that of pyri 
It is volatile at ordinary decries, its vapour forming a 
dense fog with hydrochloric acid. Its v. vapour irritates the mucous 
reve — es very omar and when working with it induced violent 
c 
The taste i is acrid and pungent, and very persiste 
acetate, sulphate, and hydrochloride all become acid on eyapora- 
tion from the loss of alkaloid. 
Oxalic acid is the only acid which yields a crystalline salt, but 
this is more or less mixed with free acid, from the loss of alkalo id 
by eee lization, an acid salt mixed nd-railide: Leeo free oxalic acid being 
The acetate, sulphate, and hydrochloride, when kept over strong 
am mite acid, dry up into hard, brittle, transparent, varnish-like 
sanding for months. All these compounds are very hygroscopic, 
“specially the sulphate, and are very readily soluble in alcohol. 
ye one acid imparts a slightly reddish colour, and nitric acid turns 
