296 
Chemistry  of  the  Coca  bases. 
Aru.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1889. 
Besides  the  usual  fluids  for  clearing  up  or  bleaching  the  tissues, 
Schulze's  reagent  (chloroiodide  of  zinc)  will  prove  very  useful  in 
examining  the  powder.  It  will  bring  out  very  clearly  the  hairs  and 
collenchyma  cells,  which  are  stained  blue,  while  the  sclerenchyma  cells 
and  the  pollen  grains  will  assume  a  yellow  color.  At  the  same  time, 
of  course,  starch,  a  very  common  adulteration  of  insect  powder,  will 
become  plainly  distinguishable  if  present. 
The  author  also  directs  attention  to  the  presence  in  the  powder  of 
conspicuous  fragments  consisting  of  papillae  covering  the  upper  epider- 
mis of  the  marginal  corolla.  The  petals  of  other  related  species  are 
similarly  constructed.  The  pollen  grains  of  the  species  mentioned  are 
likewise  similar  in  structure.  Moeller  (3fikroskopie,  etc.,  1886)  stated 
that  the  petals  contain  no  stomata  ;  but  the  author  found  stomata  quite 
numerous  on  the  marginal  corolla  of  Chrys.  cineraricefolium,  es- 
pecially on  the  lower  side. 
CHEMISTRY  OF  THE  COCA  BASES.1 
By  Dr.  0.  Hesse. 
The  somewhat  vague  discussion  that  appeared  about  two  years  ago 
in  pharmaceutical  journals  in  regard  to  "amorphous  cocaine"  induced 
me  to  publish  my  observations  on  that  subject  in  the  Pharmaceutische 
Zeitung2  while  expressly  reserving  to  myself  the  further  investigation 
of  the  bases  cocamine  and  hygrine  then  described  very  briefly.  Lie- 
bermann  has,3  however,  without  waiting  for  the  completion  of  that 
inquiry,  lately  published  his  investigation  of  isatropylcocaine,  which 
is  for  the  most  part  nothing  else  than  the  cocamine  discovered  by  me 
in  1886.  Though  the  investigation  of  cocamine  was  at  that  time  all 
but  complete  so  far  as  relates  to  cocamine,  I  have  thought  it  desirable 
to  continue  the  inquiry,  more  especially  since  the  crude  bases  I  oper- 
ated upon  had  not  been  subjected  to  the  action  of  permanganate,  as 
was  the  case  with  the  material  on  which  Liebermann  operated.  How- 
ever, the  subject  of  my  investigation  has  also  been  touched  by  Frank- 
feld,4  and  therefore  in  order  to  avoid  further  collision  it  appears  desir- 
able to  make  known  at  once  the  results  I  have  arrived  at  so  far. 
1  Translated  from  the  Berichte,  xxii.  665.  Eeprinted  from  Phar.  Jour,  and 
Trans.,  April  27,  1889. 
2  Pharmaceutical  Journal,  xviii.  71,  437.  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  1887,  454;  1888,  47. 
3  See  "  The  Month,"  in  Phar.  Jour.,  Sept.  29, 1888,  and  Feb.  2, 1889. 
4  Berichte,  xxii.  133. 
