Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  1896.  J 
Kola  and  Kolanin. 
plant  and  those  of  its  class  have  given  but  a  feeble  light 
upon  their  whole  nature.  There  are  still  formidable  difficulties 
to  surmount  before  we  can  say  we  have  reached  the  ultimate 
truth.  From  a  chemical  point  of  view,  the  three  presumable  ulti- 
mates  separated  seem  to  carry  in  part  the  energy  of  the  original 
plant.  Of  these  three,  two  are  alkaloids,  of  which  we  can  sum  up  our 
knowledge  by  saying  they  are  very  closely  related,  yet  they  are  very 
different.  We  do  not  know  as  to  their  origin,  are  not  agreed  as  to 
when  they  begin  to  form,  cannot  tell  how  far  the  life  and  death  pro- 
cesses within  the  plant,  or  how  greatly  the  chemical  reactions  in 
our  test  tubes,  have  had  to  do  with  their  formation,  their  increase  or 
decrease  in  amount.  When  we  have  separated  these  two  alkaloid 
bodies  and  given  a  chemical  measure  to  the  drug,  there  remains  in 
our  apparently  worthless  residue  one  substance  at  least,  which  has 
been  named  kolanin,  to  which  pharmacology  assigns  a  higher  value 
than  to  all  the  rest.  Chemistry  can  only,  by  hard  work,  partly  pull 
it  to  pieces.    It  has  not  yet  fully  decided  as  to  its  final  products.1 
Then  we  have  the  ferment  body  kolazym.  Authorities  sum  up 
our  present  knowledge  of  this  class  of  substances  by  saying  : 
"  Chemically,  we  know  nothing  of  them,  except  that  an  apparently 
small  and  immeasurable  quantity  may  affect  the  constitution  of  a 
large  quantity  of  certain  other  chemical  compounds.  Their  action 
seems  to  be  the  breaking  up  of  large  molecules  with  which  they 
come  in  contact  with  smaller  molecules."  The  most  that  we  can 
say  of  kolazym  is  that  it  is  present  in  the  plant  and  can  define  its 
apparent  powers.  Among  the  many  problems  that  arise,  may  we 
not  rightly  ask  that  if  by  any  means  we  could  gain  full  control  of 
this  plant  in  its  manifold  stages  of  life,  could  we  so  direct 
its  course  that  it  might  go  on  at  our  command,  producing  the 
peculiar  glucosidal  body  kolanin,  could  we  so  govern  the  action  of 
this  ferment  as  to  compel  the  continuous  production  of  glucose,  caf- 
feine and  other  products  ?  Are  conditions  possible  whereby  the 
yield  of  glucosides  and  consequent  alkaloids  could  be  increased? 
Could  we  here  secure  a  perpetual  fountain  of  chemical  products  ?  At 
1In  manipulating  the  tannin-like  compound  of  Knebel,  it  is  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  readily  effect  a  complete  separation  of  the  alkaloids.  They  are  either 
very  adherent  or  form  slowly  during  the  breaking  down  of  the  original  sub- 
stances, so  that,  at  times,  even  after  hours,  extending  into  days  of  extraction, 
faint  reactions  of  caffeine  are  observed. 
