CHEMICAL  RESEARCHES  ON  CROTON  OIL. 
5  5 
I  have  thus  been  able  to  extract,  by  this  process,  morphine  from 
opium,  strychnine  and  brucine  from  nux  vomica,  veratrine  from 
extract  of  veratrum,  emetine  from  extract  of  ipecacuanha,  colchicine 
from  tincture  of  colchicum,  aconitine  from  an  aqueous  extract  of 
aconite,  hyoscyamine  from  a  very  old  extract  of  henbane,  and 
atropine  from  an  equally  old  tincture  of  belladonna.  Thus  it  is 
in  all  confidence  that  I  submit  this  process  to  the  consideration  of 
Chemists  who  undertake  medico-legal  researches. — Bulletin  de 
V Academie  Royale  de  Medecine  de  Belgique,  torn,  vi.,  No.  2  ; 
Edinburgh  Monthly  Journal  of  Medical  Science,  and  Pharm. 
Jour. 
CHEMICAL  RESEARCHES  ON  CROTON  OIL. 
By  M.  Dublanc, 
Director  of  the  Laboratory  of  the  Central  Pharmacy  of  the  Parisian  Hospitals. 
The  object  of  these  researches  was  to  decide  whether  croton 
oil  contained  an  acid,  volatile  at  a  moderate  temperature  ;  and  if 
so,  whether  such  acid  is  the  active  principle  of  the  oil  ?  The 
author  found  that  when  an  alcoholic  solution  of  croton  seeds  was 
distilled,  the  distillate  possessed  no  acidity,  w?hilst  the  residue  in 
the  retort  was  more  acid  than  the  expressed  oil  when  treated  by  lit- 
mus paper.  He  also  found  the  ethereal  tincture  of  croton  seeds  to 
be  acid.  To  ascertain  if  this  acid  was  volatilized  by  exposure  to 
a  current  of  air,  he  made  the  following  arrangement:  The 
ethereal  tincture  was  placed  in  a  two-necked  bottle,  a  tube  pass- 
ing through  a  cork  in  one  neck  to  the  bottom,  the  other  was  con- 
nected with  Liebig's  potash  tube,  containing  tincture  of  litmus,  this 
with  a  globular  vessel  containing  alcohol,  which  vessel  was  con- 
nected with  the  top  of  a  reservoir  of  water, furnished  below  with  a 
stop-cock,  on  opening  which  a  current  of  air  flowed  through  the 
arrangement  to  the  reservoir  as  the  water  ran  out,  so  as  to  convey 
with  it  the  ethereal  vapor  and  any  acid  that  might  be  volatile. 
On  examining  the  tincture  of  litmus  and  alcohol",  no  evidence  of 
acid  was  obtained.  A  second  experiment,  in  which  a  much  larger 
quantity  of  air  and  the  oil  arranged  under  circumstances  more 
favorable  for  the  volatization  of  any  volatile  acid  should  it  exist, 
also  failed. 
Mr.  Dublanc  then  sought  to  extract  the  acid  from  the  oil  if  pos- 
