ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  ECBALINE.  263 
boiling  alcohol  twice,  and  the  mixed  tinctures  strained  and  dis- 
tilled. The  amount  of  extract  yielded,  was,  as  might  be  expect- 
ed, much  smaller  in  quantity  than  on  the  previous  occasion. 
First,  the  solid  matter  which  had  been  strained  from  the  juice 
(which  I  look  upon  as  equivalent  to  the  ordinary  extract  of 
elaterium,  though  not  in  so  pure  or  concentrated  a  form)  was 
treated  with  successive  portions  of  boiling  alcohol  until  nothing 
more  would  dissolve,  and  the  mixed  tinctures  evaporated  to  dry- 
ness.   This  we  will  call  extract  No.  1. 
Then  the  extract  produced  by  evaporating  the  aqueous  liquor 
was  treated  with  alcohol,  and  yielded  a  small  quantity  of  brown 
extract,  which  we  will  call  No.  2. 
The  thin  alcoholic  solution  of  the  cucumber-mass,  upon 
standing,  separated  into  two  portions.  The  m:re  liquid 
portion  was  evaporated  by  itself  to  dryness:  this  constitutes 
No.  3  ;  the  solid  portion  of  the  alcoholic  extract  of  the  mass 
No.  4. 
The  several  extracts  were  then  treated  with  hot  liq.  potassse, 
and  allowed  to  digest  for  some  hours,  then,  somewhat  diluted, 
were  filtered,  washed  and  dried. 
The  dried  precipitates  were  treated  with  boiling  alcohol  and 
filtered,  and  the  alcohol,  allowed  to  evaporate,  gave  the  following 
results  : 
No.  1  extract  yielded  nearly  25  grains  of  nearly  white 
crystallized  ecbaline  ; 
No.  2,  38  grs.  of  a  dark  brown  non-crystallizing  mass,  which 
appeared  to  possess  none  of  the  properties  of  ecbaline  ; 
No.  3  yielded  10  grains  of  a  much  lighter  and  crystalline 
mass,  which  probably  by  future  purification  will  yield  a  few  grains 
of  ecbaline ; 
No.  4  yielded  14  grains  of  green  waxy  matter. 
The  chlorophyll  and  residual  matter  which  had  refused  to  dis- 
solve in  the  boiling  alcohol  to  form  extract  No.  1,  was  treated 
with  liq.  potassae,  by  which  means  a  large  portion  was  dissolved, 
and  that  which  remained  behind  was  again  boiled  in  alcohol ; 
but  the  result  was  only  a  few  grains  of  brown  extractive  matter 
quite  free  from  ecbaline. 
The  conclusion  which  must  be  drawn  from  these  experiments 
is,  I  think,  that  the  mass  of  the  cucumber  after  separation  of 
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