A  Reaction  of  Emetia. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm: 
t       Aug.,  1877. 
a  bright  orange  or  lemon  yellow  coloration,  and  is  conveniently  em- 
ployed by  touching  a  trace  of  the  alkaloid  upon  a  porcelain  plate  with 
a  drop  of  the  alkaline  solution  :  the  reaction  being  much  favored  by 
the  addition  of  a  drop  of  acetic  or  other  weak  acid,  to  insure  the  liber- 
ation of  the  hypochlorous  acid,  upon  which  the  reaction  apparently 
depends,  as  chlorine  is  incapable  of  producing  the  coloration,  which  is 
permanent  and  may  be  quite  indefinitely  retained. 
A  few  drops  of  a  solution  of  one  part  of  emetia  in  1,000  parts  of 
water,  when  evaporated  to  dryness  and  brought  in  contact  with  a  drop 
of  the  alkaline  solution,  readily  produces  the  coloration  ;  and  with  a 
solution  containing  one  part  of  the  alkaloid  in  5,000  parts  of  water  the 
yellow  coloration  is  still  perceptible. 
In  view  of  the  isolation  of  the  alkaloid  when  mixed  with  compli- 
cated organic  substances,  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  not  absorbed 
from  acid,  but  very  readily  from  alkaline  solutions  by  amylic  alcohol, 
chloroform,  benzol  and  petroleum  benzin. 
The  reaction  may  also  be  emploved  as  a  means  of  testing  the  value 
of  various  species  of  ipecacuanha.  If  a  gram  of  the  root  of  Cephaelis 
ipecacuanha  in  fine  powder,  or  the  cortical  portion  therein  contained,  be 
treated  according  to  the  process  described  by  Prof.  Fliickiger,1  for  the 
isolation  of  emetia,  i.  e.,  mixed  with  a  small  amount  of  quicklime  and  a 
few  drops  of  water,  the  mixture  allowed  to  dry  upon  the  water  bath, 
subsequently  exhausted  by  chloroform,  and  the  filtrate  allowed  to 
evaporate  in  a  capsule  containing  a  few  drops  of  dilute  acetic  acid,  the 
nearly  colorless  residue  thus  obtained  affords  with  the  alkaline  solution 
the  characteristic  coloration. 
The  root  of  Richardsonia  scabra,  or  undulated  ipecacuanha, 
which  is  occasionally  quoted  as  a  source  of  emetia,  when  similarly 
treated,  does  not  produce  this  reaction,  and  which  may  confirm  the 
supposition  already  entertained,  that  this  root  is  destitute  of  alkaloid. 
ON  THE  FLUID  EXTRACT  OF  JABORANDI. 
By  Francis  V.  Greene,  M.D.,  U.S.N. 
In  the  experiments  undertaken  to  test  the  therapeutic  effects  of 
jaborandi,  which  was  introduced  to  the  notice  of  the  profession  in 
Paris  in  1873,  by  Dr.  Coutinho,  of  Brazil,  as  a  powerful  sialogogue 
1  "  Pharmacographia/1  page  335. 
