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ON  BETACINCHONIA. 
sulphuric  acid,  the  solution  heated,  and  a  hot  solution  of  car- 
bonate of  soda  added  until  a  crystalline  film  formed,  when,  on 
cooling  slowly,  well-formed  but  slightly-colored  crystals  of  the 
sulphate  were  separated,  which,  after  repeated  washing  and 
crystallization,  were  pure.  By  dissolving  them  in  acidulated 
water,  precipitating  with  ammonia,  washing,  drying  and  redis- 
solving  the  precipitate  in  boiling  alcohol,  the  pure  alkaloid 
crystallized  on  spontaneous  evaporation.  Or  the  impure  sul- 
phate may  be  dissolved  in  acidulated  water,  precipitated  by 
ammonia,  the  precipitate  washed  with  water  and  then  with  alco- 
hol until  the  latter  remains  colorless,  then  dissolved  in  boiling 
alcohol,  treated  with  charcoal,  and  allowed  to  crystallize. 
Quinia,  if  present,  would  have  been  removed  by  washing  with 
alcohol,  and  cinchonia  remained  in  the  mother-liquor  of  the 
sulphate. 
Properties  Betacinchonia  crystallizes  on  the  spontaneous 
evaporation  of  a  saturated  alcoholic  solution  in  quadrangular 
prisms  three  or  four  lines  in  length,  the  planes  being  joined  at 
right  angles ;  the  ends  are  formed  by  planes  at  right  angles 
with  the  prismatic  axis,  or  by  two  planes,  being  at  an  angle  of 
119*^  with  each  other,  of  120.°5  with  one  pair  and  at  right 
angle  with  the  other  pair  of  prismatic  planes.  The  crystals  of 
betacinchonia  and  some  of  its  salts  resemble  in  shape  those  of 
sulphate  of  brucia  and  lactate  of  zinc,  the  two  end  planes 
being  in  the  former  at  100°,  in  the  latter  at  147.^5. 
Elementary  analysis  gave  the  following  results : — 
Analysis.  Average.  Calculation.* 
C  77.146       77.672       77.043  77.285  77.922  C40  =  240 
H  7.978         7.822         7.795  7.865  7.792  H24  =  24 
N  9.102        9.075  9.088  9.091  N  2  =  28 
O  5.760  5.195  0  2  =  16 
308 
The  alkaloid  is  obtained  as  a  white,  pearly  crystalline  mass, 
*  The  author  writes  the  formula  C^q  H12  ^1  which  all  the  following 
salts  must  be  viewed  as  basic.  In  conformity  with  the  researches  of 
Strecker  and  others  on  the  various  cinchona  alkaloids,  T  thought  best  to 
double  it,  thus  making  all  the  author's  basic  salts  neutral.  This  is  in 
conformity  with  the  view  of  the  constitution  of  these  alkaloids  adopted  in 
the  United  States.  M. 
