Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Oct.,  1885.  ; 
Alkaloids  of  Coca  Leaves. 
471 
from  an  ethereal  solution  of  the  alkaloid  by  the  addition  of  an  ethereal 
solution  of  oxalic  acid. 
The  behavior  of  the  salts  of  cocaine  to  reagents  presents  little  that 
is  distinctive.  So  far  as  my  experiments  have  extended,  it  does  not 
give  any  color  reactions  of  any  importance.  Its  most  characteristic 
peculiarity  is  the  facility  with  which  its  molecule  is  split  up,  with  for- 
mation of  benzoic  acid.  If  treated  with  an  alcoholic  solution  of 
sodium  or  potassium  hydrate,  the  alkaloid  is  very  rapidly  destroyed, 
and  benzoic  ether,  recogniz<d  by  its  odor,  is  immediately  formed. 
After  a  short  time  the  solution  is  found  to  contain  abundance  of  ben- 
zoic acid,  but  hardly  a  trace  of  alkaloid.  If  ecgonine  is  formed  in 
the  first  stage  of  the  reaction  it  must  be  afterwards  in  turn  destroyed, 
Fig.  4.— Cocaine  h.vdrobromate.  Crystals  formed 
by  spontaneous  evaporation  of  aqueous  solu- 
tion.  X  50  diameters. 
or  else  its  reactions  are  not  those  of  an  ordinary  alkaloid.  Lime  and 
ammonia  act  more  slowly,  but  both  gradually  effect  a  similar  result. 
This  action  of  alkalies  was  recently  pointed  out  by  H.  MacLagan 
("American  Druggist,''  February,  1885).  It  had  previously  been  well 
known  that  cocaine  is  split  by  the  action  of  strong  hydrochloric  acid 
into  benzoic  acid,  ecgonine  and  methylic  alcohol  by  a  reaction  which 
Lossen  formulates  thus : 
G.  Calmels  and  E.  Gussin  have  recently  showed  that  baryta  effects 
the  same  decomposition  when  heated  for  some  time  at  120°C.  in  a 
sealed  tube  with  a  solution  of  cocaine  hydrochlorate.    According  to 
