Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
January,  1900.  J 
Constitution  of  the  Alkaloids. 
9 
Sum  of  the  alkaloids  U.S.P.,  0-683 ;  acid,  o-688  per  cent. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Q.S.P,  menstruum  gives  the  largest 
yield  of  alkaloid  in  the  early  part  of  the  percolate  and  much  the 
smallest  yield  of  inert  and  useless  extractive  matter,  and  is  so  far 
the  better  menstruum,  but,  for  washing  out  the  last  portion  of  alka- 
loid, the  acid  menstruum  has  a  slight  advantage. 
The  management  is  equally  easy  in  both,  and,  when  both  are 
finished  to  fluid  extract  by  the  U.S.P.  directions,  the  preparations 
appear  to  be  of  equal  value.  The  acid  preparation  is  of  much  lighter 
color,  has  no  deposit  in  three  months'  standing,  and  does  not  pre- 
cipitate on  being  added  to  water. 
The  alcoholic  preparation  is  of  a  very  dark  color,  has  a  small 
precipitate  within  three  months  that  contains  traces  of  alkaloid, 
and  precipitates  on  being  added  to  water. 
The  acid  menstruum  costs  less  than  2  cents  a  pint  (473  c.c). 
The  alcoholic  menstruum  costs  more  than  24  cents  a  pint. 
THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 
ALKALOIDS. 
By  A.  R.  It.  Dohme,  Ph.D. 
An  alkaloid  is  defined  differently  by  different  authorities  on  the 
subject,  one  set  of  chemists  considering  it  to  be  a  derivate  of  the 
base  pyridine,  while  another  set  of  chemists  consider  it  to  be  a  sub- 
stance containing  nitrogen  and  possessing  basic  properties.  The 
former  class,  headed  by  Pictet,  do  hence  not  consider  caffeine,  theo- 
bromine, ethylamine,  etc.,  as  alkaloids,  while  the  latter,  headed  by 
Guareschi,  include  these  substances  in  the  class  of  alkaloids.  As 
stated  in  a  paper  published  some  years  ago,  I  am  inclined  to  take 
the  broader  view  of  the  case  and  consider  an  alkaloid  to  be  any  ni- 
trogenous substance  possessing  basic  properties  and  forming  stable 
salts.  Although  the  great  majority  of  the  alkaloids,  as  we  shall 
see,  are  derivatives  of  pyridine,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  unscientific  to 
assume  that  all  alkaloids  are  such,  or  that  there  is  any  organic  con- 
nection between  alkaloidal  property  and  pyridine,  for  the  day  may 
soon  come  when  an  alkaloid  is  discovered  that  is  not  a  derivative  ot 
pyridine,  and  is  yet  a  pronounced  alkaloid  in  possessing  alkaloidal 
properties  and  pronounced  therapeutic  activity.  And  I  must  con- 
fess to  know  of  no  reason  why,  by  an  arbitrary  standard,  such  a 
