616 
Alkaloids  from  Nux 
Vomica. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      Dec,  1881. 
eluding  my  remarks  on  this  substance^  I  may  say  that  it  seems  to  me 
exceedingly  likely  that  the  workers  who  have  supposed  nux  vomica 
seeds  to  contain  a  third  alkaloid  have  been  misled  by  bodies  of  anal- 
ogous nature  to  this.  As  regards  the  work  or  Schiitzenberger,  I  have 
already  written.  As  regards  that  of  Desnoix,  I  may  add  that  his 
methods  of  purification  would  cope  but  very  imperfectly  with  such  a 
substance  as  this. 
It  will  be  perceived  that  these  various  results  fail  to  confirm  the 
presence  of  any  third  alkaloid.  Of  course,  it  may  be  argued  that  in 
the  course  of  purification  for  analysis  I  may  have  overlooked  such  a 
body.  This  could  be  urged  against  any  process  whatever,  especially 
any  process  that  has  to  deal  with  a  body  accompanied  by  so  much 
foreign  matter  as  brucine  and  most  alkaloids  are.  On  the  other  hand, 
I  had,  by  exhausting  the  mother-liquors,  which  might  be  expected  to 
contain  igasurin,  90  grams  of  crude  but  crystalline  alkaloids,  dried 
only  by  pressing  in  calico.  After  working  this  up,  I  found  that  I 
could  account  for  slightly  under  82  grams,  showing  a  loss  of  8  grams, 
against  which  was  a  loss  in  the  purification  of  the  last  product ;  and, 
further,  a  part  of  it  remained  mixed  with  resinous  impurity,  from 
which  it  could  not  be  separated,  certainly  weighing  several  grams  in 
all,  though  I  did  not  weigh  it,  owing  to  an  interruption  in  my  work 
at  the  time.  Had  there  been  anything  present  of  different  nature  to 
brucine  or  strychnine  I  do  not  think  I  could  have  overlooked  it. 
The  experiments  I  have  been  describing  were  undertaken  in  conse- 
quence of  an  opportunity  presenting  itself  from  the  necessity  I  was 
under  of  preparing  brucine  by  a  method  tliat  should  certainly  not 
yield  saponification  products  in  its  place,  or  mixed  with  it,  in  order 
to  obtain  trustworthy  results  in  examining  the  action  of  acids  or  alka- 
lies upon  it. 
The  results  I  have  arrived  at  have  satisfied  me  that  the  brucine  of 
commerce,  though  sometimes  not  perfectly  pure,  does  for  the  most  part 
consist  of  brucine,  and  I  am  confirmed  in  this  opinion  by  th6  fact  that 
I  have  since  obtained  from  commercial  brucine  a  product  similar  to 
that  yielded  by  my  own  alkaloid  when  acted  on  by  alcoholic  soda, 
which  reagent  only  has  yielded  any  results  of  interest. 
It  was  my  intention  to  have  extended  my  experiments  with  saponi- 
fying agents  to  strychnia;  various  obstacles,  however,  delayed  me  a 
good  deal,  and  meanwhile  experiments  with  that  substance  have  been 
made  by  Gal  and  A.  Etard  (^^Bull.  Soc.  Chim.^^  [2],  xxxi,  98),  who, 
