8 BULLETIN 405, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Extractions were made of the seeds and pods, and impure alkaloids” 
were obtained. The experience in this work leads to the suggestion 
of the following method of extraction: 
Moisten the powdered drug with alcohol containing 1 per cent of HCl; pack in 
percolator; macerate with alcohol; percolate with alcohol until the percolate gives — 
only small turbidity with Mayer’sreagent. Mix the percolate with sand and evaporate 
the alcohol. Treat the residue repeatedly with warm water, until it gives off only a 
slight reaction with Mayer’s reagent. To the united filtrate add Mayer’s reagent to 
complete precipitation. Wash the precipitate, suspend it in a little water, and decom- 
pose with H,§; filter. 
Evaporate the filtrate to a small volume, add an excess of Ca(OH),, filter, exhaust 
the precipitate and filtrate separately with ether, as quickly as possible, neglecting 
the last traces. Evaporate the ether. Treat the residue with absolute alcohol acidu- 
lated with H,SO,. Let stand 24 hours. The precipitate will contain the lupinidin, 
the filtrate the other lupine alkaloids. These will require further purification. 
CHARACTERS OF THE ALKALOIDS. 
Physical characters.—The physical effects of the aklaloids make it 
likely that they are similar to those occurring in the European 
species. Several of these characters were observed in the course of 
the isolation of the alkaloids. 
The (impure) alkaloids were obtained as brown oily liquids of a 
strongly alkaline reaction and a strongly bitter taste. They were 
easily soluble in water and in alkalies. They were slightly soluble 
in petroleum ether. No crystals were obtained. During their sepa- 
ration a strong odor resembling conin, characteristic of lupinidin, ~ 
was perceptible, especially when strong soda was added. The 
isolated alkaloids were almost odorless, but again developed the odor 
very strongly when 10 per cent soda was added. 
Chemical characters.—Strongly heated, they boiled and evolved 
dense, white fumes. Strong sulphuric acid, cold or heated, alone or 
with formaldehyde or bichromate, gave only browning. Strong — 
nitric acid also gave no characteristic reactions. | 
Precipitation reactions—The alcoholic solution gave partial pre- 
cipitation with sulphuric acid. The dilute neutral aqueous solutions 
of the chlorid or sulphate behaved as follows: 
NaOH (1 per cent): Slight precipitate. 
NaOH (strong): Precipitate, partly soluble n excess of the soda. 
(NH,)OH: No precipitate. 
‘Na,CO,: No precipitate. 
Mercuric chlorid: Amorphous precipitate, easily soluble in excess of HCl. The 
precipitate was incomplete, giving further precipitate with Mayer’s reagent, and also ~ 
the lupinidin test with alcoholic sulphuric acid. 
Picric acid: Fair amorphous precipitate. 
Tannin: Precipitate, soluble in excess. 
Iodin in KI: Good amorphous precipitate. 
Pot. ferrocyanid: No precipitate. 
Pot. bichromate: No precipitate. 
