VEGETABLES AS THE SOURCES OF ARTIFICIAL ALKALOIDS. 
57 
oil was converted into a brownish resin. The concentrated liquid was then super- 
saturated with carbonate of soda and redistilled. The ammoniacal solution which 
came over contained a considerable quantity of oily bases. 1 am at present unable 
to state what these bases are, but hope to do so in the course of a few weeks. One 
advantage in operating with caustic lyes is, that the bases are immediately obtained 
quite free from ernpyreumatic oils or resins. 
2. Formation of Bases hy means of Sulphuric Acid . — A quantity of beans was also 
digested with sulphuric acid, diluted with three or four times its bulk of water. 
The beans, as in the previous instance, were speedily disintegrated. Care was taken 
to prevent the action proceeding so far as to decompose the sulphuric acid and to 
generate sulphurous acid. The strongly acid liquid, after being filtered, was super- 
saturated with carbonate of soda and distilled. The ammoniacal liquid which passed 
into the receiver was, on examination, found also to contain organic bases. I 
think it may be inferred, therefore, that when other vegetable and animal substances 
are similarly treated they will also yield analogous results. 
3. Bases by Putr^ef action . — Putrefaction is the only other method I at present 
recollect by which ammonia is procurable, in quantity, from animal and vegetable 
substances. I have not at the moment an opportunity of ascertaining whether in 
these cases also the ammonia is accompanied with the formation of organic bases, 
though 1 feel strongly inclined to believe that it is. The peculiarly disagreeable odour 
of the ammoniacal liquors, derived from putrid substances, appears to indicate the 
presence of such bases. And I should not be at all surprised, if, from the very gentle 
nature of the process, putrefaction should prove to be the most advantageous method 
of preparing the volatile alkaloids on a large scale. 
Guano. 
Since the above was written, I distilled an aqueous solution of a quantity of Peru- 
vian guano with an excess of quick-lime. The guano had a pale yellow colour, was 
very dry, and emitted a comparatively feeble odour. The strong ammoniacal liquid 
which distilled over was neutralized with muriatic acid, and concentrated to about 
a third of its bulk. It was then supersaturated with carbonate of soda and redistilled. 
The liquid which passed into the receiver contained a small, but very appreciable 
quantity of a basic oil, similar to that obtained from the preceding substances. 
Muriatic acid dissolved it very readily, forming a transparent solution, from which 
it was precipitated by alkalies. It was considerably more soluble in water than any 
of the bases previously described. Its amount was less than I expected, though 
guano cannot be regarded as a favourable example of the usual effects of putrefaction 
on a complex nitrogenous substance, as the chief portion of the nitrogen contained 
in it existed from the first in the state of ammoniacal salts. Guano, howev^er, in 
addition to ammonia, also contains a quantity of volatile organic bases. 
From the facts which have been now stated, I think it may be pretty safely 
MDCCCL. I 
