NOTE  ON  THE  COLCHICUM  AUTUMNALE. 
235 
in  the  preparation  of  sulphate  of  quinine.*  In  the  hands  of  the 
scientific  manufacturer,  such  as  Mr.  Howard,  it  may  serve  for 
the  discovery  of  the  barks  which  contain  quinidine.  If  a  bark 
contains  quinidine,  a  tincture  made  with  strong  alcohol,  will 
form  crystals  of  hydriodate  of  quinidine  upon  the  addition  of  a 
few  drops  of  hydriodic  acid  and  stirring  the  liquid  with  a  glass 
rod.  If  quinidine  is  present,  small  crystals  will  separate,  either 
immediately  or  after  some  hours,  wherever  the  rod  shall  have 
rubbed  against  the  glass. — London  Pharm.  Jour,,  Feb.  1857. 
NOTE  ON  THE  COLCHICUM  AUTUMNALE. 
By  L.  Oberlin. 
In  1820,  after  the  chemical  examination  of  several  plants  of 
the  family  Colchicacece,  MM.  Pelletier  and  Caventouf  assimila- 
ted the  principle  found  in  the  Colchicum  autumnale  to  that  dis- 
covered by  them  in  other  plants  of  this  family,  and  indicated  the 
presence  of  veratrine  in  this  plant. 
In  1833,  MM.  Hess  and  GeigerJ  pointed  out  the  difference 
which  separates  the  active  principle  of  the  Colchicum  from  that 
contained  in  White  Hellebore  and  Sabadilla,  and  described  the 
physical  and  chemical  characters  of  the  alkali,  which  they  called 
colchicine.  I  have  resumed  this  investigation  ;  but  although  I 
have  carefully  followed  the  process  of  extraction  which  they  state 
they  employed,  I  have  not  obtained  a  crystallizable  principle, 
even  by  trying  all  the  solvents  to  facilitate  crystallization,  and 
two  chemists  who  have  repeated  the  experiment  at  my  request 
have  arrived  at  the  same  result  as  myself.  The  following  are 
the  results  of  my  researches  upon  this  uncrystallizable  product, 
obtained  by  the  process  of  MM.  Hess  and  Geiger. 
The  aqueous  solution  of  colchicine,  acidified  by  sulphuric  or 
muriatic  acid,  acquires  an  intense  yellow  color  when  it  is  brought 
to  a  certain  state  of  concentration  on  the  sand-bath  ;  it  gives  a 
*  This  supposition  has  since  been  proved  by  the  examination  of  quinoi- 
dine  from  the  manufactory  of  Mr.  Zimmer,  from  which  I  obtained  23  per 
cent,  of  hydriodate  of  quinidine. 
f  Ann.  de  Phys.  et  de  Chim.,  xiv. 
(  Handworterbuch  der  reinen  und  angewandten  Chemie,  ii.  p.  330. 
