'^'"jin""iSr°''}      Extraction  of  Colchicia  from  the  Seed.  7 
he  employed  a  hot  menstruum^  he  would  have  obtained  different 
results. 
Some  of  the  whole  seeds  were  obtained  from  a  cabinet  specimen  of 
Prof.  Maisch's,  which  has  been  in  his  possession  for  over  ten  years. 
Of  this  sample,  50  grams  were  macerated  in  cold  dilute  alcohol  (sp.  gr. 
•941)  for  three  days ;  a  portion  of  the  tincture  was  then  evaporated  to 
dryness,  the  residue  treated  with  alcohol,  again  evaporated  to  dryness, 
treated  with  water,  and  filtered.  The  filtered  liquid  was  tested  with 
Mayer's  test,  after  the  addition  of  a  few  drops  of  nitric  acid,  when  a 
yellow  precipitate  was  immediately  produced.  The  seeds  were  then 
well  drained,  and  treated  again  with  a  fresh  portion  of  the  menstruum, 
when  an  additional  amount  of  alkaloid  was  obtained.  On  treating 
them  in  a  like  manner  for  the  third  time,  no  more  alkaloid  was 
obtained. 
They  were  then  digested  in  dilute  alcohol,  with  a  moderate  heat,  for 
three  hours,  and  on  applying  the  usual  tests  a  considerable  amount  of 
colchicia  was  found  to  be  present.  After  well  draining,  they  were 
again  subjected  to  the  action  of  heat  and  dilute  alcohol,  but  no  alka- 
loid was  found  present  on  testing  the  filtered  liquid. 
The  seeds  were  now  well  drained,  powdered  and  macerated  in  cold 
dilute  alcohol  for  three  days,  when  on  testing  a  portion  of  the  men- 
struum none  of  the  alkaloid  was  found  present,  and  the  result  was  not 
altered  by  digesting  in  the  same  menstruum,  with  a  moderate  heat,  for 
three  hours,  although  a  considerable  amount  of  soluble  matter  was 
extracted.  The  tincture  obtained  from  the  cold  maceration  was  evapo- 
rated to  the  consistence  of  an  extract,  and  weighed  4*806  grams  = 
9*61  per  cent.  It  was  treated  with  alcohol  until  all  the  soluble  matter 
was  dissolved,  the  alcoholic  solution  was  evaporated  to  dryness,  the 
residue  treated  with  water,  the  aqueous  solution  filtered,  and  the  alka- 
loid precipitated  by  Mayer's  test ;  the  precipitate,  carefully  washed  and 
dried,  Aveighed  '093  gram  =  '18  per  cent. 
The  decoction  obtained  from  digesting  the  seeds  with  hot  dilute  alco- 
hol was  then  evaporated  to  the  consistence  of  an  extract,  and  weighed 
2*0006  grams  =  4'01  per  cent.  The  extract  was  treated  in  a  similar 
manner  as  the  preceding,  and  the  colchicia  precipitate  was  found  to 
weigh  '161  gram  =  0*32  per  cent.,  showing  that  nearly  two-thirds  of 
the  active  principle  was  extracted  by  the  hot,  and  only  one-third  by 
the  cold  menstruum,  the  latter  being  the  proportion  also  obtained  b^'  Mr. 
