Amse^'i877arm  }  Gleanings  from  the  Foreign  Journals.  447 
at  Strassburg,  and  ascertained  that  calabar  bean  contains  two  alkaloids, 
one  of  which  acts  like  strychnia,  while  the  second,  heretofore  known 
as  physostigmia^  has  a  paralysing  effect.  The  new  alkaloid  which  they 
have  named  calabarina,  is  insoluble  in  ether,  soluble  in  alcohol  and  more 
freely  soluble  in  water  than  the  former  ;  its  precipitate  with  mercuro- 
potassium  iodide  is  insoluble  in  alcohol.  The  calabar  preparations  of 
commerce  are  often  mixtures  of  the  two  alkaloids  in  varying  propor- 
tions, hence  their  effect  must  vary  considerably  ;  an  English  prepara- 
tion was  found  to  be  almost  free  from  physostigmia,  while  Duquesnel's 
eserin  appears  not  to  contain  any  calabarina.  Physostigmia  has  a  ten- 
dency to  change  into  Duquesnel's  rubreserin,  particularly  under  the 
influence  of  alkalies  ;  the  latter  body,  however,  is  insoluble  in  ether  ; 
;an  etherial  extract  seems,  therefore,  preferable  to  one  made  with  alco- 
hol. O.  Hesse,  however,  denies  this,  since  physostigmia  in  its  natural 
combination  is  nearly  insoluble  in  ether. 
O.  Hesse  refers  also  to  the  difficulty  of  recognizing  the  purity  of 
physostigmia,  which  is  amorphous  even  if  obtained  by  Vee's  process 
(1865) ;  what  the  latter  regarded  as  crystallized  eserina  was  most  likely 
a  body  similar  to  cholesterin,  still  containing  some  alkaloid.  Hesse  has 
recently  isolated  this  body  and  found  it  to  crystallize  from  ether,  chlo- 
roform and  petroleum  ether  in  white  silky  needles,  which  are  indiffer- 
ent, and  fuse  at  about  I33°C. — Schweiz.  Wochenschr.,  No.  22,  from 
Phar.  Zettung. 
Preparation  of  Caffeina. — P.  Cazeneuve  and  O.  Caillot  macerate 
1  part  of  cut  black  tea  with  4  parts  of  boiling  water  until  the  leaves 
are  soft ;  1  part  of  slaked  lime  is  then  added  and  the  mixture  dried  in 
a  water  bath.  The  residue  is  rubbed  to  a  coarse  powder,  exhausted  with 
chloroform,  the  solvent  recovered  by  distillation,  and  the  greenish  resi- 
due treated  with  boiling  water  ;  the  solution  is  passed  through  a  mois- 
.  tened  filter  and  the  clear  liquid  evaporated  and  crystallized. — Phar. 
Centralh.,  No.  23,  from  Bull.  Soc.  Phar. 
Veratria. — E.  Schmidt  boiled  5  kilos  coarsely  powdered  sabadilla 
seed  with  water  containing  300  grams  sulphuric  acid,  and  repeated  the 
operation  with  a  somewhat  smaller  quantity  ;  the  large  excess  of  acid 
prevents  the  liquid  from  becoming  too  mucilaginous.  The  filtrate  was 
treated  at  the  boiling  temperature  with  an  excess  of  ammonia,  and  the 
precipitate  well  washed  with  water,  dried  and  treated  with  ether.  The 
