Du Mez■—The Galenical Oleoresins. 
1127 
Piperidine is a colorless limpid liquid having a specific 
gravity of 0.8591 at 25°C, and boiling at 106.3°C. 27 It is 
stated to have an odor resembling both, that of ammonia and 
pepper. It is a powerful base behaving generally like am¬ 
monia in its action on the metallic bases. It is soluble in all 
proportions in alcohol or water. It has the following struc¬ 
tural formula. 28 . 
Methyl-Pyrroline. Pictet and Court 20 report the occurrence 
of 0.01 per cent of methyl-pyrroline in black pepper obtained 
from Singapore. The exact constitution has not been deter¬ 
mined, but the authors are of the opinion that it is a C-methyl 
pyrroline represented by one of the following formulas: 
Ash. The basic elements, K, Na, Mg, Ca, Fe and Mn, com¬ 
bined with the acids, HC1, H 3 P0 4 , H 2 S0 4 , H 2 Si0 3 are the com¬ 
ponents of the ash of black pepper as determined by Rottger 30 
and others. 31 
The average ash content of black pepper is stated by Blyth 32 
27 Perkin, Chem. Soc. Journ. (1889), 55, p. 699. 
25 Hofmann, Ber. der. deutsch. chem. Ges. (1879), 12, p. 985; Koenigs, 
Ibid., p. 2341; Ladenburg, Ibid. (1885), 18, pp. 2956 and 3100. 
29 Pictet states that he was able to isolate pyrrolidine and N-methyl pyrro¬ 
line from various leaves by steam distillation after treatment with sodium 
carbonate. He is of the opinion that the methyl pyrrolines undergo re¬ 
arrangement forming pyridine and quinoline rings, thus giving rise to the 
more complex alkaloids. Arch. Sci. Phys. Nat. (1905), 19, p. 329; Ber. d- 
deutsch. chem. Ges. (1907), 40, p. 3771. 
39 Arch. Hyg. (1886), 4, p. 183. „ 
31 Blyth, Chem. News (1874), 30, p. 170. 
32 Ibid. 
