242 ON THE PREPARATION OF VEGETABLE ALKALOIDS. 
ON THE PREPARATION OF VEGETABLE ALKALOIDS. 
By Mr. John S. Cobb, 
I wish to call the attention of this meeting to a peculiar pro- 
cess for the preparation of the vegetable alkaloids. This process, 
remarkable as well for its simplicity as for the advantage with 
which it may be applied to the preparation of small quantities of 
these salts, is based upon the property which charcoal possesses, 
in common with some other substances, of extracting and retaining 
certain principles from the liquids with which it is placed in con- 
tact. The credit of its application to the above purpose is due to 
M. Lebourdais. That gentleman had undertaken some experi- 
ments in order to demonstrate the pre-existence of the vegetable 
alkalies in plants, and for that purpose was endeavouring to dis- 
cover some more direct mode of extracting these salts than the 
one commonly employed. Having poured into a phial containing 
some charcoal an aqueous solution of extract of digitalis (previous- 
ly precipitated by acetate of lead) and shaken the bottle, he was 
surprised on finding, when the charcoal had subsided, that not only 
had the liquid become colorless, but also it had entirely lost its 
bitter taste. It immediately occurred to M. L. that the charcoal, 
under the influence of some other solvent, would cede again the 
bitter principle which it had extracted from the liquid. He, there- 
fore, washed and dried the charcoal and treated it with boiling 
alcohol, which became slightly colored, and charged with all the 
bitter principle. 
Evaporated in a water-bath this left for residue an amber-co- 
lored liquid, which, by repose and refrigeration, deposited a pul- 
verulent matter. This, separated by filtration, washed, and dis- 
solved in alcohol, gave, by spontaneous evaporation crystals of 
digitaline. 
Having thus ascertained the practicability of the process in refer- 
ence to digitaline, M. L. proceeded to test its applicability to the 
extraction of the alkaloids of other plants, varying somewhat the 
manipulation according to the substance operated upon. 
Thus he obtained scillitine in the same manner as digitaline, 
while to procure illicine, he boiled a decoction of the leaves of the 
ilex aquifolium with charcoal, and then washed, dried, and treated 
as previously the charcoal. 
