BERBBRINA  AND  ITS  SALTS.  257 
a  mortar  until  well  incorporated,  then  add  the  remainder,  and 
stir  a  few  minutes. 
When  first  made,  it  is  viscid  and  ropy,  but  in  a  day  or  two 
loses  these  properties,  and  becomes  at  the  ordinary  temperature 
(say  60^  F.)  of  the  consistence  of  a  soft  ointment. — Journ,  and 
Trans,  of  the  Mart/land  College  of  Pharmacy^  March,  1861. 
ON  BERBERINA  AND  ITS  SALTS. 
By  L.  Henry. 
The  author  prepared  the  alkaloid  by  Fleitmann's  process,  and 
adds  to  its  known  properties  that  it  has  no  action  on  polarized 
light,  and  that  it  readily  yields  supersaturated  solutions  ;  its 
composition  is  C^oHigNO^Q.  The  following  salts  wore  prepared 
and  analyzed  : 
Hydrobromate  of  berberina  is  slowly  precipitated  by  the  acid 
from  an  aqueous  solution  of  the  alkaloid,  and  crystallizes  from 
alcohol  in  pale  yellow  needles,  soluble  in  water  and  alcohol ; 
when  dried  between  100  and  110^  0.  (212  and  230«^  F.)  the 
salt  is  anhydrous. 
Hydriodate  of  berberina  prepared  like  the  former,  is  nearly 
insoluble  in  alcohol,  soluble  in  2130  parts  of  water,  crystallizes 
in  small  reddish  yellow  needles,  and  has  the  same  composition. 
The  hydroferrocyanate  is  obtained  by  double  decomposition  ; 
it  is  little  soluble  in  water  and  alcohol,  and  crystallizes  in  green- 
ish-brown microscopic  needles  ;  dried  below  120°  C.  (248°  F.) 
its  formula  is  2(G^^l\^^0^^,  HCy)  +  FeCy.  The  hydrofer- 
ridcyanate  resembles  this  salt,  but  possesses,  after  drying,  an  ap- 
ple green  color;  composition  =  3  (C^gH^gNOj^,  HCy) -j- Fe^ 
The  double  chloride  of  gold  is  precipitated  from  diluted  solu- 
tions with  constant  agitation.  It  is  a  brown  amorphous  powder, 
somewhat  soluble  in  boiling  concentrated  muriatic  acid,  and  in 
a  mixture  of  this  acid  and  alcohol,  from  which  solution  it  sep- 
arates in  floccules  consisting  of  microscopic  needles ;  light  de- 
composes it  slowly ;  the  dry  salt  is  C42Hj9NOjo,  HCl  -{-  Au  Clg. 
The  picrate  crystallizes  from  boiling  alcohol,  in  which  it 
17 
