Am-jJXi?94arm"}       Assaying  of  Aikaloidal  Drugs.  45 
is  obtained,  adding  30  grn.  chloroform  and  60  gm.  ether,  and,  after 
agitating,  5  cc.  ammonia  water  (10  per  cent.)  The  mixture  is  agi- 
tated for  several  minutes,  and  the  vial  set  aside;  after  15-30  minutes 
the  mixture  will  separate  so  that  60  gm.  of  the  chloroform-ether 
solution  can  be  transferred  to  an  Erlenmeyer  flask,  filtering  if  neces- 
sary, and  the  assay  finished  as  already  described.  An  extract  made 
by  himself  from  the  unpeeled  seeds  (which  had  previously  been 
extracted  with  ether),  and  70  per  cent,  alcohol  yielded  12  per  cent, 
extract  containing  21-2  per  cent,  alkaloids  ;  two  commercial  extracts 
yielded  14-3  and  16-2  per  cent,  alkaloids. 
The  quantitative  separation  of  strychnine  and  brucine  is  effected  by 
a  modification  of  Gerock's  method,  and  is  dependent  upon  the  altera- 
tion of  brucine  sulphate  by  dilute  nitric  acid  into  compounds  having 
no  basic  character,  while  strychnine  sulphate  suffers  very  little  or  no 
decomposition  under  the  same  circumstances.  0-2-0-4  gm.  of  the 
purified  alkaloids  (the  crude  alkaloids  are  dissolved  in  dilute  sulphuric 
or  hydrochloric  acid  with  the  aid  of  heat,  the  solution  filtered  and 
extracted  with  a  mixture  of  3  parts  chloroform  and  2  parts  ether 
after  adding  ammonia  in  excess :  the  chloroform-ether  solution 
leaves  the  alkaloids  colorless  and  perfectly  soluble  in  dilute  acids ; 
any  loss  occasioned  in  the  purification  is  of  no  moment,  since  it  is 
desired  to  establish  only  the  relative  quantity  of  the  two  alkaloids) 
are  dissolved  in  an  Erlenmeyer  flask  in  10  cc.  dilute  sulphuric  acid 
(10  per  cent.),  applying  heat  cautiously  so  that  as  little  evaporation 
as  possible  takes  places ;  after  cooling  one  cc.  concentrated  nitric 
acid  sp.  gr.  1-41-1-42  is  mixed  with  the  solution  (very  frequently  the 
sulphuric  acid  solution  upon  cooling  deposits  crystals  of  strychnine 
sulphate  which  dissolve  again  on  the  addition  of  the  nitric  acid),  pro- 
ducing the  well-known  red  coloration  of  brucine  with  nitric  acid  ; 
the  flask  is  set  aside  for  one  or  one  and  a  half  hours  at  the  ordinary 
temperature,  adding  at  the  expiration  of  the  time  40  gm.  chloroform 
and  40  gm.  ether  and,  after  agitation,  10  cc.  ammonia  water  (10  per 
cent.);  the  mixture  is  shaken  for  several  minutes  and  40  gm.  of  the 
chloroform-ether  solution  filtered  into  a  tared  flask,  the  solvent  dis- 
tilled off  and  the  residue  (strychnine)  dried  at  95-1000  C.  and 
weighed.  The  crystallization  of  the  strychnine  is  so  sudden  that  the 
crystals  are  thrown  around  in  the  flask  with  considerable  violence  ; 
to  obviate  this  the  distillation  should  be  discontinued  as  soon  as 
crystallization  commences  and  the  remainder  of  the  solvent  gotten 
