Amoe°tu,r'i8P78arm  }  The  Alkaloids  of  Veratrum  Sabadilla.  489 
THE  ALKALOIDS  OF  VERATRUM  SABADILLA. 
By  C.  R.  Alder  Wright,  D.Sc.  (Lond.),  Lecturer  on  Chemistry,  and  A.  P.  Luff, 
Demonstrater  of  Chemistry  in  St.  Mary's  Hospital  Medical  School. 
After  giving  the  history  relating  to  the  chemical  investigation  of 
Sabadilla  seeds,  the  authors  report  in  detail  the  results  of  their  investi- 
gations, which  are  summed  up  in  the  following  general  conclusions : 
(1.)  The  seeds  of  Veratrum  Sabadilla  (sometimes  designated  Veratrum 
officinale,  Sabadilla  officinarum  or  Asagraa  officinalis)  contain  an  alkaloid, 
first  isolated  by  Couerbe,  and  termed  by  him  veratria,  which  is  indi- 
cated by  the  formula  C37H53NOn,  or  one  very  close  thereto  ;  this  is 
non-crystalline,  but  furnishes  certain  crystallizable  salts  :  on  saponifica- 
tion it  splits  up  into  veratric  acid  (dimethyl-protocatechuic  acid)  and  a 
new  base,  verina,  thus,  C37H53N0114-H20=C9H1()04+C28H45N08. 
(2.)  In  addition,  a  considerably  larger  quantity  of  another  alkaloid  is 
present,  first  isolated  by  Merck,  and  described  by  him  as  "veratria." 
To  distinguish  this  from  the  former  alkaloid,  which  has  the  prior  claim 
to  the  name  veratria,  we  propose  to  term  it  cevadina,  reserving  the 
name  veratria  for  Couerbe's  base.  This  cevadina  is  crystallizable, 
melts  at  2050  to  2060,  and  on  saponification  splits  up  in  accordance 
with  the  reaction,  C32H49N09+H20=C5H802+C27H43N08,  forming 
a  base  cevina,  and  an  acid  identical  with  the  methyl-crotonic  acid  of 
Frankland  and  Duppa,  and  with  the  cevadic  acid  of  Pelletier  and 
Caventou. 
(3.)  The  formulae  assigned  by  Merck,  by  Weigelin  and  by  Schmidt 
and  Koppen  to  cevadina  are  all  more  or  less  erroneous,  that  of  the 
latter  pair  of  chemists  being  nearest  to  the  truth,  C32H49NOg. 
(4.)  There  is  no  good  reason  for  supposing  the  existence  of  isomeric 
modifications  of  cevadina  (so-called  "veratria")  in  the  sabadilla  alka- 
loids, these  supposed  bodies  being  either  mixtures  of  bases,  thereby 
rendered  highly  difficult  to  crystallize,  or  products  of  alteration  by 
saponification  of  the  above-named  bases. 
(5.)  The  body  described  as  "sabadillia"  by  Weigelin  was  not  to  be 
found  in  the  substances  examined  by  us  ;  neither  in  the  alkaloids 
extracted  by  ourselves  by  the  tartaric  acid  process,  nor  in  the  com- 
mercial so-called  "veratria"  obtained  from  Hopkin  and  Williams,  nor 
in  the  product  purchased  as  "sabadillia"  from  Burgoyne  and  Burbidges. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  first  and  last  of  these  substances  contained  an 
alkaloid  almost  insoluble  in  ether,  and  agreeing  in  that  respect  with 
