ON  THE  ALKALOIDS  IN  THE  aREENHEART-TREE.  453 
medical  journals.  He  writes  like  an  accurate  and  truthful  ob- 
server and  narrator  of  facts,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  state- 
ments in  reference  to  the  properties  of  the  sassafras  are  worthy 
of  being  known  and  tested.  Let  any  one  susceptible  to  the  dis- 
agreeable influence  of  nicotine  put  a  few  drops  of  the  oil  on  the 
end  of  a  cigar,  or  on  the  tobacco  in  a  pipe,  and  he  will  very  soon 
be  convinced  that  it  is  a  complete  antidote. 
In  making  the  experiment  with  the  pipe,  it  is  best  to  cover 
the  oiled  portion  of  the  tobacco  with  some  that  is  dry,  or  it  will 
not  burn  so  readily;  or,  if  a  blaze  is  used  to  light  it,  will  burn  too 
rapidly,  and  prove  pungent  and  disagreeable.  D.  Shelby,  M.  D. 
HuNTSViLLE,  Alabama,  May  15,  1869. 
— Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry,  July,  1869. 
ON  THE  ALKALOIDS  CONTAINED  IN  THE  WOOD  OF  THE 
BEBEERU  OR  GREENHEART-TREE  (NEGTANDRA 
BODIuEI,  SCHOMBURGK). 
By  Douglas  Maclagan,  M.  D.,  F.R.S.E,, 
Professor  of  Medical  Jurisprudence  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh; 
And  Arthur  Gamgee,  M.D.,  F.R.S.E. 
In  this  paper  the  authors  state  the  preliminary  results  of 
their  examination  of  the  bases  contained  in  the  wood  of  the 
greenheart-tree.  When  the  wood  is  subjected  to  a  process 
similar  to  that  recommended  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  for 
the  preparation  of  sulphate  of  bebeerina  from  the  bark  of  the 
tree,  a  mixture  of  the  sulphates  of  several  bases  is  obtained. 
The  product  does  not  differ  in  a  marked  manner  from  sulphate 
of  bebeerina  as  it  occurs  in  commerce. 
From  the  mixture  of  bases  the  authors  separated,  by  repeated 
treatment  with  chloroform,  a  base  which  is  very  soluble  in  that 
menstruum.  This  base,  when  purified,  occurs  in  the  form  of  a 
white  non-crystalline  powder,  possessed  of  an  intensely  bitter 
taste.    It  differs  from  bebeerina  in  the  following  particulars  : — 
1st.  It  fuses  when  placed  in  boiling  water. 
2d.  It  is  much  less  soluble  in  ether  than  bebeerina.  100  parts 
of  pure  ether,  of  density  0*715,  dissplve  0*96  part  of  bebeerina. 
100  parts  of  the  same  ether  dissolve  -04  part  of  the  new  base. 
