230  Alkaloids  and  other  active  Principles.  {AmMa?!'i89iarm' 
finally  to  an  indigo  tint.  With  nitric  acid  the  alkaloid  is  colored 
purplish-red  ;  that  which  dissolves  is  orange  colored.  Hydrochloric 
acid  forms  with  it  a  yellowish  solution.  Frohde's  reagent  dissolves 
it  with  a  sap-green  coloration.  Sulphuric  acid  and  bichromate  of 
potassium  form  a  violet-brown  fluid.  A  solution  discharges  the 
color  of  permanganate  of  potassium,  but  is  not  affected  by  ferric 
chloride  and  plumbic  acetate. 
These  reactions  are  not  to  my  knowledge  peculiar  to  any  of  the 
known  alkaloids.  The  purplish-red  color  with  nitric  acid  is  similar 
to  that  obtained  with  buxine  and  pereirine,  but  the  absence  of  a 
strong  bitterness,  and  the  different  purposes  to  which  the  respective 
mother  plants  are  put,  do  not  admit  of  a  chemical  relation  between 
these  bases. 
I  propose  for  this  alkaloid  the  name  of  "  tylophorine,"  and  when 
opportunity  affords  I  hope  to  be  able  to  give  some  further  par- 
ticulars of  its  chemical  constitution,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  a 
medical  friend,  of  its  physiological  action.  The  occurrence  of  alka- 
loids in  the  natural  order  Asclepiadacese  has  not  been  recorded,  or 
very  rarely  so,  but  I  have  recently  found  that  they  are  by  no  means 
absent  from  this  family  of  plants. — Pharm.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Jan. 
U,  P-  617.   
ALKALOIDS  AND  OTHER  ACTIVE  PRINCIPLES  FROM 
PLANTS  GROWING  IN  THE  DUTCH  INDIES.1 
By  M.  Greshoff. 
I.  Carpaine,  the  Alkaloid  of  Carica  Papaya,  L. — The  leaves  of 
the  papaya  (Carica  Papaya,  L. )  contain,  in  addition  to  the  caricine 
and  papaine  discovered  by  Wurtz  and  Peckolt,  an  alkaloid  which 
has  not  previously  been  prepared,  and  for  which  the  name  carpaine 
is  proposed.  The  young  leaves  are  richest  in  the  alkaloid,  and 
contain  about  0-25  per  cent.;  the  sap,  seeds,  and  roots  only  contain 
traces.  Carpaine  is  readily  soluble  in  alcohol,  chloroform,  and 
ether,  the  freshly  precipitated  compound  being  more  readily  taken 
up  by  the  latter  solvent  than  when  crystallized,  a  fact  which  is  made 
use  of  in  isolating  the  alkaloid.  It  is  complelely  separated  from 
solutions  of  its  salts  by  sodium  carbonate  solution,  but  is  insoluble 
in  potash,  and  cannot  be  extracted  from  acid  solution.  It  gives 
precipitates  with  Mayer's  solution,  iodine,  phosphomolybdic  acid, 
1  Ber.  23,  3537—3550;  reprinted  from  Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  1891,  p.  334. 
