122 
Veratrum  Alkaloids. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharnu 
Mar.,  1878. 
edition  of  1877,  p.  569.  The  formula  is  loose  and  inaccurate,  con- 
taining a  considerable  excess  (161  grains)  of  potassium  bromide.  Its 
quantitative  defects  are  easily  remedied,  but  it  yields  a  complex  solution 
containing  much  tartaric  acid  and  potassium,  and  is  otherwise  objection- 
able, having  all  the  faults  of  the  process  upon  which  it  is  modelled> 
namely,  the  process  for  hydriodic  acid  by  Buchanan,  of  Glasgow* 
Made  by  FothergilPs  formula  it  will  commonly  contain  between  8  and 
9  per  cent,  of  the  hydrobromic  acid,  and  as  the  dose  is  stated  at  u  3ss. 
to  gi,"  if  this  be  by  weight  as  it  is  written,  it  will  be  equivalent  to  4 
to  8  grains  of  potassium  bromide  only. 
FothergilPs  process  was  very  much  improved  by  Mr.  Charles  Rice  > 
see  "  New  Remedies  "  for  April  16,  1877,  P*  I07*  But  tms  prepara- 
tion, though  much  more  definite,  is  still  liable  to  the  objection  of  con- 
taining much  tartaric  acid  and  potassium,  and  therefore  of  being  diffi- 
cult to  identify  or  verify,  or  to  discriminate  by  tests  or  by  assay. 
Much  better  results  are  obtained  by  the  original  process  of  Balard, 
particularly  as  modified  by  Prof.  J.  M.  Maisch.  See  u  Proceedings  of 
The  Amer.  Pharm.  Asso."  for  i860,  p.  220,, or  as  still  farther  modified 
by  Prof.  G.  F.  H.  Markoe,  see  "  Proceedings  of  The  Amer.  Pharm. 
Asso."'  for  1875,  p.  686.  But  these  and  many  other  published  processes 
are  less  simple  and  easy  than  that  here  proposed. 
That  here  given  is  not  original  with  the  writer,  but  is  alluded  to  in- 
all  standard  works  on  chemistry  ;  but,  without  the  variation  in  quantity 
of  sulphuric  acid  used,  and  without  crystallizing  out  the  potassium 
sulphate  before  the  distillation,  the  process  is  impracticable,  or  at  least 
has  always  proved  to  be  so  in  the  writer's  hands,  and  in  the  hands  of 
all  whom  he  has  known  to  have  tried  it. 
Brooklyn,  Jan.  12,  1878. 
ON  THE  VERATRUM  ALKALOIDS. 
By  Alexander  Tobien.1 
This  interesting  essay,  of  which  we  can  publish  only  a  brief  abstract,, 
opens  with  a  historical  introduction  citing  the  literature  of  the  chemi- 
cal investigations  made  with  different  species  of   veratrum.  The 
poisonous  properties  of  veratrum  album  were  known  in  Spain  in  the 
1  Beitrage  zur  Kentniss  der  Veratrum  Alkaloide.  Inaugural-Dissertation.  Dorpat, 
1877,  8vo,  pp.  38.   Communicated  by  the  author. 
