cent, ammonia, 300 c. c. of absolute ether, and 300 c. c. of 
chloroform were mixed in a bottle, and the mixture well 
shaken before being used. The substance obtained by treat¬ 
ing with Prollius’ fluid was, in each case, evaporated to dry¬ 
ness on the water bath, redissolved in water and again evap¬ 
orated to see if any crystalline precipitate could be seen by 
the microscope; but none could be found. These residues were 
fed to rabbits and I could not see that they were in the least 
affected. I tasted the residues and found a bad, pungent taste 
that would be difficult to describe. Thinking that the quan¬ 
tity used was too small, I tried the method over again, using 
3 kilos. (6.6 lbs.) with the same result as to crystalline products 
and as to effects upon rabbits. 4 kilos. (8.8 lbs.) of the dry and 
finely-ground powder were treated with distilled water contain¬ 
ing ^ per cent of sulphuric acid for 6 hours on the water 
bath. The liquid was strained through a new linen filter and 
this filtrate evaporated to a small bulk on the water bath. 
During the evaporation a white cyrstalline salt separated out 
and was filtered off. This, on examination, I found to be cal¬ 
cium sulphate (see cut). Microscopic drawings were made of 
these three years ago. The crystals were in the plant as cal¬ 
cium acetate, as I afterwards found. 
The liquid above described was evaporated to a soft ex¬ 
tract and the extract divided into two parts. One part was made 
acid with sulphuric acid, and the other part made alkaline 
with ammonia, and these treated with alcohol, ether and 
chloroform successively and evaporated to dryness on the water 
bath. The undissolved residue, as well as the amount dis¬ 
solved by the ether, alcohol and chloroform, was tested for 
alkaloids by dissolving in water, and gave reactions with 
Mayer’s and the other reagents before described. The resi¬ 
due was diluted with water to the consistency of molasses and 
given to rabbits every hour for two days, with no bad results. 
Last year and this year I tried alfalfa in the same way: i kilo. 
(2.2 lbs.) was cut fine and pounded in an iron mortar until it 
became soft and pulpy, and then treated with dilute (^ per 
cent.) sulphuric acid for three days, then filtered, the filtrate 
concentrated on the water bath to a syrup; this syrup was 
divided into two parts. One half was treated with 95 per cent, 
alcohol, and the alcohol extract filtered and allowed to evap¬ 
orate, the residue dissolved in water and tested for alkaloids, 
as follows : 
Wagner’s test gave a.dirty red precipitate 
Hager’s test gave a.yellow precipitate 
Marine’s test gave a...light yellow precipitate 
Berzelius’ test gave a.light yellow precipitate 
Mayer’s test gave a.yellowish white precipitate 
