460  Preparation  and  Composition  of  Emetina.  {Ams£T/i877arm' 
if  it  should  happen  that  a  leaf  in  tea  would  not  respond  to  this  test,  I 
should  consider  it  conclusive  evidence  of  a  foreign  leaf. — your,  of  App. 
Sci.,  July  2,  1877,  from  The  Analyst. 
MEMOIR  ON  THF  PREPARATION  AND  COMPOSITION 
OF  EMETINA. 
By  Jules  Lefort  and  Frederic  WUrtz.1 
Certain  facts  in  the  history  of  emetina  recently  published  by  M. 
Gle'nard  do  not  tally  with  results  which  M.  Lefort  had  previously 
obtained. 
Imagining  that  this  discordance  was  owing  to  the  state  of  purity  of 
the  alkaloids,  and  hearing  that  M.  Glenard  intended  to  pursue  the  sub- 
ject, it  seemed  to  us  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  publication  of  a 
new  process  we  had  devised  for  the  preparation  of  emetina  in  a  state  of 
absolute  purity,  and  to  finally  establish  its  elementary  composition. 
Judging  a  priori,  from  the  known  composition  of  the  cinchonas  and 
other  vegetables,  it  is  probable  that  emetina  is  not  the  only  alkaloid 
contained  in  the  ipecacuanhas.  This  seems  to  be  also  M.  Gle'nard's 
idea  ;  but  although  he  has  in  a  sense  reserved  this  investigation  for  him- 
self, we  do  not  consider  ourselves  bound  to  neglect  it  uuder  the  unusu- 
ally favorable  circumstances  in  which  we  are  placed  by  the  courtesy  of 
M.  Dorvault,  Director  of  the  Pharmacie  Centrale  of  France. 
Preparation  of  Emetina. — M.  Glenard  has  discovered  that  by  treating 
powdered  ipecacuanha-root  first  with  lime  and  then  with  sulphuric 
ether,  all  the  emetina  contained  therein  is  obtained  in  a  comparatively 
pure  state.  When  New  Granada  ipecacuanha  is  used,  which  con- 
tains less  of  the  brown  resin  than  the  Brazilian,  the  alkaloid  is  spe- 
cially white.  The  object  of  M.  Glenard's  first  researches  was  to  sug- 
gest the  idea  that  the  alkaloid  so  obtained  might  be  contaminated  with 
one  or  more  bodies  resembling  it  in  solubility  and  other  properties. 
To  clear  up  this  point,  and  to  provide  for  the  industrial  production 
of  ementia  in  case  it  should  be  introduced  into  medicine,  we  undertook 
some  experiments,  and  finally  adopted  the  following  method  for  its 
preparation  :  500  grams  of  alcoholic  extract  of  ipecacuanha  are  dis- 
solved in  half  a  liter  of  water.    Cold  saturated  solution  of  potassic 
Abstract  from  the  "Journal  de  Pharmacie.v 
