AmMi°cUbr; i884rm' }  ®ome  4/™®™  Kolas,  J  6 9 
small  quantity  before  meals  escape  constitutional  changes  due  to  affections 
of  that  organ.  They  are  also  believed  by  the  negroes  to  have  aphrodisiac 
properties.  With  respect  to  the  assertion  that  the  pulp  or  powder  of  the 
seeds  thrown  into  foul  water  has  the  property  of  cleaning  it,  an  experiment 
made  by  the  authors  would  appear  to  show  that  any  action  in  this  direction 
would  be  due  to  the  formation  of  a  kind  of  mucilage,  which  would  act 
mechanically  like  the  white  of  an  egg. 
It  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  name  "  kola  "  is  applied  in  Africa  indif- 
ferently to  several  Sterculaceous  seeds  other  than  those  of  the  two  varieties  of 
Coca  acuminata,  although  these  are  the  most  valued  in  the  native  markets. 
It  is  probable  that  the  African  plants  capable  of  yielding  seeds  resembling 
the  true  kola  are  Cola  Duparquetiana,  Baill.,  C.  ficifolia,  Mast.,  C.  hetero- 
phylla,  Mast.,  C.  cordifolia,  Cax.,  and  perhaps  Sterculia  tomentosa,  Hend. 
But  the  authors  think  it  doubtful  whether  these  seeds  contain  caffeine, 
otherwise  they  would  be  as  much  sought  after  as  the  true  kola. 
In  order  to  determine  chemically  the  composition  of  kola  seeds,  the 
authors  made  a  large  number  of  experiments  ;  the  details  fill  many  pages  in 
the  original  paper.  The  dry  seeds  were  first  operated  upon,  and  the  pro- 
cess which  appeared  to  give  the  best  results  was  to  exhaust  the  dried  pow- 
der successively  with  chloroform  and  alcohol.  The  chloroform  percolate 
was  a  yellowish  liquid  ;  this  was  evaporated  to  dryness,  and  the  residue 
treated  with  water,  which  separated  a  fatty  substance  with  an  odor  recall- 
ing that  of  cacao  butter  and  entirely  saponifiable  by  caustic  potash.  The 
yellow  liquid  upon  concentration  after  filtration,  deposited  silky  needles  of 
caffeine,  but  when  the  solution  was  rapidly  evaporated  arid  the  residue 
treated  with  water,  ether  or  chloroform  it  no  longer  completely  dissolved 
without  using  a  considerable  quantity  and  boiling,  and  upon  such  a  solu- 
tion cooling  a  small  quantity  of  a  compound  crystallized  out  in  microscopic 
prisms  and  octahedra  which  proved  to  be  theobromine.  The  substances 
separated  by  chloroform  from  the  dry  nuts,  were — caffeine,  2*348  per  cent. ; 
theobromine,  0*023  per  cent.  ;  tannin,  0  027  per  cent. ;  fat,  0*583  per  cent. 
The  kola  powder  was  then  dried  and  exhausted  with  alcohol.  A  mahog- 
any colored  extract  was  obtained  which  when  treated  with  boiling  water 
dissolved  entirely,  but  the  solution  on  cooling  deposited  a  large  quantity  of 
coloring  matter.  The  aqueous  solution  was  precipitated  with  triplumbic 
acetate,  the  precipitate  decomposed  with  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and  a  liquid 
obtained,  free  from  bitterness,  containing  a  considerable  quantity  of  a 
tannin  giving  an  intense  green  color  with  persalts  of  iron,  and  a  soluble 
coloring  matter  that  formed  lakes  in  contact  with  metallic  solutions  ;  the 
residue  of  the  aqueous  solution,  after  removal  of  excess  of  lead,  was  found 
to  contain  only  glucose  and  a  small  quantity  of  fixed  salts.  The  coloring 
matter  deposited  upon  the  cooling  of  the  boiling  water  used  in  dissolving 
the  alcoholic  extract  differed  in  its  nature  from  the  soluble  coloring  matter 
It  appeared  to  be  an  oxidation  product  from  the  tannin  and  presented 
considerable  analogy  to  cinchona  red  ;  in  order  to  distinguish  it,  therefore,, 
the  authors  have  named  it  "  kola  red." 
The  composition  of  the  alcoholic  extract  from  the  dry  nuts  (5*826  per  cent.  ) 
was  found  to  be — tannin,  1*591  per  cent.  ;  kola  red,  1  290  per  cent. ;  glucose, 
2*875  per  cent. ;  fixed  salts  0*070  per  cent. 
