266 
NOTE ON AN ALKALOID OBTAINED FROM THE 
SEEDS OF R1CINUS COMMUNIS, OR CASTOR- 
OIL PLANT. 
By Professor Tuson. 
It is well known that certain parts of several plants 
belonging to the natural order Puphorbiacere , as well as various 
pharmaceutical preparations obtained therefrom, have been 
long employed in medicine as remedial agents; and that, 
notwithstanding this circumstance, our knowledge respecting 
the chemical constitution and physiological action of the 
active principles residing in such bodies is even at the present 
day in an exceedingly unsatisfactory state. 
For a considerable period I have devoted much of the time 
which I could snatch from that occupied in my regular pro¬ 
fessional pursuits to attempts at isolating the active constituents 
of the seeds and oils of castor and croton, of gum euphor- 
hium, and of cascarilla hark, i. e. the bark of Croton eleuteria 
or of Croton cascarilla. Now although, as yet, I have not 
succeeded in accomplishing the particular object which I had 
in view when I commenced my experiments, I have never¬ 
theless discovered several substances possessing chemical if 
not therapeutic interest, and it is one of these proximate 
* principles which I have separated from the seeds and oil of 
Ricinus communis that I wish to partly describe in this com¬ 
munication. The compound to which I refer is an alkaloid, 
and I have provisionally named it ricinine. 
Preparation of ricinine. —Crushed castor-oil seeds are ex¬ 
hausted by successive quantities of boiling water, and the 
matters soluble in water separated from the oil and other 
insoluble materials by filtration through wet calico. The 
filtered liquid thus obtained is then evaporated to dryness 
over a water hath, and the extract produced is treated with 
boiling alcohol so long as it exerts any solvent power. The 
alcoholic solutions are allowed to cool, when a small amount 
of a resinoid body precipitates. This is separated by filtration, 
and the filtered liquid is concentrated to a small bulk and 
allowed to stand all night. The next morning a mass of 
almost white crystals are found to have deposited from the 
alcoholic solution. These crvstals are the new alkaloid, 
ricinine. It may he obtained perfectly pure by recrystalliza¬ 
tion out of alcohol and decolorising by animal charcoal. 
Properties of ricinine .—Ricinine crystallizes in rectangular 
