560  An  Organic  Alkali  in  Boldo.  {AHDeJcOUil;'i87TM" 
THE  PRESENCE  OF  AN  ORGANIC  ALKALI  IN  BOLDO. 
By  E.  Bourgoin  and  C.  Verne. 
The  boldo  is  a  tree  indigenous  to  Chili,  which  sometimes  attains  the 
tieight  of  from  five  to  six  metres,  and  belongs  to  the  order  Monimiacece. 
It  was  first  attributed  to  a  laurel,  the  Laurus  dioica  of  Dombey.  It  is 
the  Boldoa  fragrans  of  Jussieu,  the  Ruizia  fragrans  of  Ruiz  and  Pa- 
von,  and  the  Peumus  fragrans  of  Persoz.  Baillon  has  recently  de- 
scribed it  under  the  name  of  Peumus  boldus.  The  leaves  have  a 
strong  piquant  camphorate  savor.  They  contain  an  essential  oil  and 
an  organic  alkali,  to  which  the  authors  propose  to  give  the  name  of 
boldina.  The  following  method  was  adopted  by  them  in  their  re- 
searches. 
The  powdered  leaves  were  exhausted  with  washed  ether  in  a  dis- 
placement apparatus,  by  which  method  a  well-saturated  aromatic  tinc- 
ture was  obtained.  When  this  was  submitted  to  distillation,  the  ther- 
mometer, after  the  ether  had  passed  over,  remained  stationary  at  185°, 
and  a  certain  quantity  of  an  essential  oil,  recalling  the  odor  of  the 
plant,  was  collected.  The  thermometer  then  rose  gradually  to  about 
230°,  when  it  again  remained  stationary  for  some  time,  and  after- 
wards mounted  to  about  300°.  These  facts  showed  that  the  ether  had 
taken  up  some  complex  volatile  products ;  in  other  words,  that  the 
-essential  oil  of  boldo  is  a  mixture  of  several  bodies,  agreeing  with 
what  has  been  observed  in  regard  to  most  aromatic  plants. 
When  the  powder  would  yield  nothing  more  to  ether,  it  was  exhaust- 
ed with  90°  alcohol,  containing  tartaric  acid  in  solution.  Upon  evap- 
oration, a  syrupy  acid  residue  was  obtained,  which  was  agitated  with 
washed  ether,  in  order  to  remove  a  brown  odorous  matter,  soluble  in 
«ether,  alcohol  and  acids.  After  saturation  with  bicarbonate  of  potash 
it  was  agitated  afresh  with  ether,  which  then  took  up  a  matter  pre- 
senting all  the  characteristic  reactions  of  an  alkaloid ;  this  was  im- 
pure boldina. 
In  order  to  purify  this  product,  it  was  dissolved  in  water  slightly 
acidulated  with  acetic  acid,  and  then  precipitated  by  ammonia  added 
in  slight  excess.  This  alkaloid  existed  in  small  quantity  in  the  leaves 
operated  upon — about  one  part  in  one  thousand, — and  moreover  it 
was  difficult  to  obtain  it  pure,  since  the  aromatic  matter  previously 
mentioned,  which  was  soluble  in  acids,  clung  to  it  with  great  per- 
sistence. 
The  above  process  being  one  rather  of  research  than  of  extraction,  af- 
