310 
ON  THEVETINE. 
/3.  Chlorohydrate  of  Emetia. — I.  0-819  of  the  salt  gave  0*0436 
of  chlorine,  or  5-33  per  cent. 
II.  0-368  of  the  salt  gave  0-0217 
of  chlorine,  or  5*89  per  cent. 
The  formula  H^^  W  +  HCl  requires  5-91  per  cent,  of 
chlorine. 
The  author  therefore  thinks  that  these  results  require  the  for- 
mula of  Pelletier  and  Dumas  to  be  doubled,  and  hopes  that  fur- 
ther analytical  research  on  the  salts  of  emetia  will  corroborate  his 
results. — Jour,  de  PJiarm.,  Avril,  1869,  p.  241. 
ON  THEYETINE. 
By  M.  Blas. 
The  Thevetia  neriifolia  is  a  tree  of  the  family  Apocynese, 
which  grows  in  the  West  Indies,  New  Grenada,  Peru,  and  the 
East  Indies  ;  its  bark  is  considered  a  powerful  febrifuge.  Its 
seeds  contain,  according  to  Prof,  de  Yry,  nearly  57  per  cent, 
of  a  nearly  colorless  fixed  oil,  odorless,  with  a  taste  analogous  to 
that  of  sweet  almonds,  and  a  poisonous  principle  which  is  a  glu- 
coside.  It  is  extracted  from  the  bruised  seed  by  alcohol,  after 
the  fixed  oil  has  been  removed  first  by  pressure,  and  then  by 
ether,  and  the  marc  extracted  by  cold  water  and  dried.  The 
alcoholic  liquid  by  evaporation. deposits  a  white  crystalline  pow- 
der, having  an  extremely  acrid  taste. 
When  thevetine  is  boiled  with  diluted  hydrochloric  or  sulphu- 
ric acid  it  is  transformed  into  glucose  and  a  resinous  body,  which 
he  calls  theveresin. 
This  theveresin,  that  has  been  purified  by  precipitating  its 
alcoholic  solation  by  water,  constitutes  an  amorphous  powder, 
which  agglutinates  readily.  It  is  inodorous,  has  a  weakly  bitter 
taste,  is  poisonous,  and  is  nearly  insoluble  in  cold  water  and 
ether. 
M.  Bias,  after  a  series  of  experiments,  arrives  at  the  following 
conclusions  :  1.  Thdvetine  and  theveresin  are  poisons  sufficiently 
potent  to  cause  death,  in  small  doses.  2.  Thevetine  is  not  trans- 
formed in  passing  in  the  organism.  3.  The  poisonous  action  of 
theveresin  differs  little  from  that  of  thevetine.    4.  Th^vdtine 
