Am  Ju0n^r;Sarm•,}  Chemistry  of  the  Coca  bases.  297 
In  the  first  place  I  must  mention  that  two  sorts  of  coca  leaves  are 
now  met  with  in  commerce.  The  one  sort  is  derived  from  Erythroxy- 
lon  Coca  ;  it  was  formerly  investigated  by  Erdniann  and  Lossen,  and 
was  for  some  time  the  only  material  employed  in  the  preparation  of 
cocaine.  Subsequently  a  second  sort  came  into  the  market,  originat- 
ing from  a  variety  of  Erythroxylon  growing  in  Jamaica  and  St.  Lucia, 
which  has  been  regarded,  though  perhaps  incorrectly,  as  a  variety  of 
the  well-known  coca  plant  and  termed  Nova-granatense.  It  is  chiefly 
this  latter  kind  of  coca  that  has  hitherto  been  used  in  North  Germany 
for  making  cocaine. 
Cocamine  was  obtained  by  me  from  the  last  mentioned  variety  of 
coca  leaves,  and  from  a  parcel  that  contained  chiefly  that  base  to  the 
extent  of  nearly  0*6  per  cent.  In  operating  upon  the  crude  base  with 
petroleum  spirit  some  part  of  the  cocamine  remained  undissolved  and 
by  repeatedly  dissolving  that  in  dilute  acetic  acid  and  precipitating 
with  ammonia  the  base  could  soon  be  rendered  sufficiently  pure  for 
analysis.  In  the  following  statement  of  the  results  thus  obtained  the 
figures  marked  A  relate  to  the  base  precipitated  from  a  dilute  solution 
and  perfectly  crystalline.  Those  marked  B  relate  to  the  hydrochloride 
dried  at  the  ordinary  temperature  over  sulphuric  acid. 
A.  B. 
Dried  at  the  normal  Dried  at 
temperature.  53°  O. 
C  67-46  67.43  5971 
H                    6-99  7-09  6-81 
N                    4  33  —  — 
These  results  agree  well  with  the  formulae  C17H21N04  and 
C17H21N04HC1,  by  which  I  considered  the  composition  of  cocamine 
was  represented,  especially  since  platinum  determinations  gave  corre- 
sponding results.  However,  a  subsequent  determination  of  chlorine 
in  the  hydrochloride  gave  only  9*11  per  cent.  This  discordant  result 
induced  me  to  examine  more  closely  the  products  of  decomposition, 
and  in  that  way  I  ascertained  that  the  true  formula  of  cocamine  is 
C19H23N04.  Hence  the  substances  represented  by  A  and  B  were 
really  C19H231ST04+1H20  and  C19H23N04HC1+H20. 
The  attempt  to  determine  the  water  in  the  pure  base  was  unsuccess- 
ful. When  heated  to  90°-95°  C.  it  melted,  but  there  was  no  loss  of 
weight.  On  heating  to  120°  C.  the  loss  of  weight  was  very  near  that 
corresponding  to  |H20,  but  the  examination  of  the  residue  showed 
that  some  methyl  alcohol  must  have  been  given  off  as  well  as  water. 
