868 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[April 29,1S71. 
mode of representing the simultaneous formation of these 
two bases being as follows:— 
Bromoeodide. Codeia. 
C ls H. s BrNO, + 4C 1 s H 21 N 0 3 
Deosveodeia. Bromotetracodeia. 
= C ls H ;1 N0. 2 +C ;3 H s3 BrN 4 0 12 . 
Owing' to the ease with which bromoeodide is altered, 
it is a matter of some difficulty to obtain it in even an ap¬ 
proximately pure condition, as the complete separation 
of deoxycodeia appears impracticable when this base has 
once been produced. The product of the action of three 
parts 48 per cent, acid on one part codeia on the water- 
bath for from one to two hours is precipitated by excess 
of sodium carbonate and the precipitate collected on 
filters; unaltered codeia is for the most part separated 
thus, being contained in the filtrate. Extraction of the 
mass with ether and agitation of the ethereal solution 
with HBr furnishes crude bromoeodide hydrobromate, 
which may be purified by a repetition of the process, 
fractional precipitation being resorted to to get rid of 
traces of colouring-matters: the purified hydrobromate 
thus obtained was a viscid colourless liquid which utterly 
refused to crystallize, and dried up to a gum-like mass 
over SO,Ho. Dried at 100°,--the powdered gum gave 
these numbers :*— 
0-3500 grm. gave 0'6340 C0 2 and 0T580 H,0. 
0*230 grm. boiled with N0 3 II and AgN0 3 gave 
0*1900 AgBr. • 
Calculated. Found. 
/--v A 
c 18 . 
, 216 
48*76 
‘49*40 
H 21 . 
, 21 
4*74 
5*01 
Br 2 . 
, 160 
36*12 
N . 
14 
3*16 
o 2 . 
32 
7*22 
C 18 H 20 BrNO 2 HBr 
443 
100*00 
The slight excess of carbon and deficiency in bromine 
thus found are doubtless due to the presence of a 
little deoxycodeia, the hydrobromate of which requires 
59*34 per cent, carbon and 21*98 per cent. Br. Another 
specimen of bromoeodide hydrobromate, prepared as 
above from the product of three hours’ digestion at 100° 
of one part codeia and three parts 4S per cent. HBr, 
yielded numbers indicating 51*6 per cent, carbon, 5*3 
and 33*4 per cent. Br.; whilst a repetition of the purifi¬ 
cation process scarcely altered the numbers. Owing to 
the great difficulty in preparing* the pure salt in quantity, 
no attempt to isolate and analyse the base itself was 
made, the more so that the precipitate thrown down by 
carbonate of soda from the pure hydrobromate appeared 
to tally in every respect with the chlorocodide formerly 
examined ; their qualitative reactions, too, arc identical. 
The crude bromoeodide hydrobromate obtained after 
five or six hours’ digestion of codeia with from three to 
five times its weight of 48 per cent. HBr deposited, on 
standing for some days, crystals not readily soluble in 
cold water; recrystallized several tunes from boiling- 
water, minute snow-white crystals were ultimately ob¬ 
tained ; these slightly darkened on drying over S(3 4 H.,, 
and more so at 100° and gave the following numbers on 
analysis:—. 
0*3565 grm. gave 0*7760 C0 2 and 0*1960 ILO. 
0*3245 grm. gave 0*7045 CO., and 0*1790 H 2 0. 
0*2200 grm. burnt with soda-lime gave 0*0570 Pt. 
0*1380 grm. boiled with NO HI and AgN O, gave 
0*0700 AgBr. & 3 & 
These numbers agree with those calculated for deoxy¬ 
codeia hydrobromate, as the following comparison 
shows:— 
* All combustions given in this paper were made with lead 
chromate and timsheu in a stream of dry oxygen. 
Calculated. 
/ * 
C 18 . 
. 216 
59*34 
H 22 . 
. . 22 
6*05 
N . 
. . 14 
3*84 
O. 
8*79 
Br. 
. . 80 
21*98 
C ls II 21 N0 2 HBr 
364 
100*00 
Found. 
59*36 59*21 
6*11 6*13 
- - 3-69 
- - - 21*59 
The yield of this base from the codeia used being but 
small (about 4 per cent.), no attempt was made to isolate 
the base itself; carbonate of soda throws down from the 
hydrobromate solution a white precipitate which is solu¬ 
ble in alcohol, other, benzol and chloroform ; by exposure 
to air it rapidly becomes coloured, and finally acquires a 
very dark green tint. Its qualitative reactions are iden¬ 
tical with those of apomorphia; the co'lour-reactions of the 
two with Fe 2 Cl G , N0 3 H, and S0 4 II 2 -f- K 2 Cr 2 0- being 
indistinguishable when examined side by side. Its phy¬ 
siological effects, however, are different; three-tenths of 
a grain of the hydrobromate administered by the mouth 
to a dog producing no appreciable effect, whilst a much 
less dose of apomorphia produces speedy vomiting. 
(To be continued.) 
Wasps and the Stamens and Pistils of Fuchs¬ 
ias.—The use of the petals of various flowers by bees 
is generally known, but it is not so well known that 
wasps remove the stamens and pistils of fuchsias for 
their own use. What this use may be appears some¬ 
what uncertain, but the fact of their removal is chro¬ 
nicled by M. Ch. Morren, who states that, having fre¬ 
quently noticed that the stamens and pistils of certain 
fuchsias were removed by some unexplained means, he 
set a watch, and it was then ascertained that the wasps 
were the culprits. That they are employed by them for 
some purpose seems evident from the fact that the 
wasps were observed flying about the garden with the 
stamens in their mandibles. M. Morren believes that 
Vespa nidulans is the species which acts in this manner, 
as in localities where this wasp does not occur the 
flowers remained intact. It would be interesting to as¬ 
certain whether a similar phenomenon has been noticed 
in England.— Gardeners Chronicle. 
Turmeric.—The genus Curcuma is known as furnish¬ 
ing the yellow powder called turmeric, which is used as 
an aromatic ingredient in the preparation of curry-pow¬ 
der, and also in various branches of Eastern cookery as 
well as in medicine, and as a colouring matter and a test 
for alkalies. The young tubers, which are colourless, 
also yield a kind of arrowroot, that known as East 
Indian arrowroot being the produce entirely of species 
of this genus, such as C. angustifolia, Roxb., C. rubescens , 
Roxb., etc. In Borneo, C. purpurascens, Bl., is a com¬ 
mon plant, and the older rhizomes are dug up, beaten 
to pieces, and washed to separate the farina from the 
fibre. The powder is not only used in the preparation 
of native dishes, but, mixed with water and perfumes, it 
is smeared over the faces and bare arms and necks of 
brides and bridegrooms when they sit in state before 
marriage, or receive their first visits of ceremony. Per¬ 
haps our perfumers may take a wrinkle.— Gardeners' 
Chronicle. 
Annatto.—In an article in the Milk Journal a resem¬ 
blance is pointed out as existing between annatto and 
those well-known coal-tar products,—the salts of rosolic 
acid; and a suggestion is made that it is worthy of inves¬ 
tigation whether the rosolates might not be tried as 
substitutes for anr.atto. 
