Am.  Jour.  Pha>  ru.  1 
February,  1896.  J 
Kola  and  Kolanin. 
IOI 
The  experiments  made  by  the  writer  in  the  habitat  of  the  plant 
seem  to  show  that  these  alkaloids  are  found  chiefly  in  the  ripe  or 
nearly  ripe  seeds  (except  that,  in  a  very  few  instances,  the  pods 
have  given  faint  alkaloidal  reaction).  The  wood,  bark  and  leaves 
give  entirely  negative  results.  Experiments  are  now  being  made  to 
determine  more  accurately  at  just  what  stage  in  the  life  history  of 
the  plant  these  bodies  are  first  manifest.  In  the  limited  number  of 
experiments  made,  the  results  indicate  that,  in  the  green  nuts,  only 
traces  of  the  free  alkaloids  are  present,  and  that  the  quantity  increases 
materially  as  the  nuts  ripen. 
KOLANIN. 
Heckel  and  Schlagdenhauffen  have  set  us  an  illustrious  example 
in  the  study  of  drugs  by  devoting  twelve  years  to  the  investigation  of 
this  plant.  Very  early  in  their  researches,  after  exhausting  the  alka- 
loids, they  separated  a  body  which  seemed  to  them  to  present  an 
analogy  to  cinchona  red.  They  found  it  to  contain  an  active  prin- 
ciple which  they  were  at  first  unable  to  separate,  but  which  they 
found  to  be  capable  of  giving  striking  physiological  results. 
Ernst  Knebel,  of  Steeg,  in  1 891 ,  also  a  notable  name  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  drug,  in  a  long  and  laborious  examination,  demonstrated 
that  a  glucosidal  body  was  present,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  kolanin. 
In  his  essay  he  gives  several  methods  of  separation,  one  of  which 
is  as  follows  :  The  powdered  kola  is  first  extracted  with  alcohol,  the 
extract  evaporated  to  dryness,  the  finely  ground  extract  then 
exhausted  with  chloroform.  When  the  residue  is  found  freed  from 
caffeine, it  is  mixed  with  clean  sand,washed  in  cold  water  until  the  wash- 
ings run  off  slightly  colored.  (This  washing  is  to  remove  glucose, 
tannin  and  salts.)  The  washed  residue  is  dissolved  in  alcohol,  fil- 
tered, and  again  evaporated.  The  product  is  substantially  the  kola 
rouge  of  Heckel.  Knebel  demonstrated  that  this  glucoside  upon 
decomposition,  gave  caffeine,  glucose  and  a  third  non-nitrogenous 
body.  (Knebel's  kola  roth).  We  should,  therefore,  remember  that 
Knebel's  kola  red  is  a  non-nitrogenous  body,  which,  he  stated,  is 
joined  in  chemical  union  with  caffeine  as  a  component  part  of  the 
glucoside  kolanin.  Real  kola  roth,  as  Knebel  terms  it,  is  a  decom- 
position product  of  the  glucoside.  He  shows  that  it  is  closely 
related  to  the  tannins,  containing  the  same  number  of  hydroxyl 
groups,  and  giving,  upon  fusion  with  caustic  potash,  pyrocatechin, 
