298  Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  {Amj£^'i8P9oarDa 
equal  volumes  of  ether  and  turpentine.  The  acid  was  not  obtained 
in  a  crystalline  form,  but  as  a  white,  bitter  powder,  barely  soluble  in 
water,  soluble  in  alcohol  and  difficultly  soluble  in  ether  and  petro- 
leum ether.  The  melting  point  could  not  be  obtained,  as  the  acid 
decomposes  below  2000  C.  A  combustion  and  analysis  of  silver 
and  barium  salts  give  the  formula  C30H30O12,  and,  like  the  above  acid, 
show  it  to  be  dibasic. 
The  use  and  change  of  alkaloids  in  some  seeds  during  germination. 
— Jidouard  Heckel  (Compt.  rend.,  1890,  cx,  88)  has  examined  the 
behavior  of  strychnine,  brucine.  daturine  and  coffeine  during  germi- 
nation. For  coffeine  the  seeds  of  Stercidia  acuminata  were  used. 
The  fresh  seeds  contained  in  100  gm.  2  37  gm.  coffeine  ;  after  one 
year  the  cotyledons  contained  only  1-072  gm.,  after  two  years,  0  70 
gm.  and  after  three  years  0  21  gm.  During  the  time  the  alkaloid 
disappeared  chlorophyl  and  potassium  nitrate,  which  are  never 
present  in  the  recent  seeds,  made  their  appearance.  For  the  alka- 
loids of  the  pyridine  series  Strychnos  Nux  vomica  and  Datura  Stra- 
monium were  used.  In  a  relatively  short  time  (2—5  months 
depending  on  the  size  of  the  seeds)  all  the  alkaloids  in  the  endosperm 
had  been  converted  into  more  assimilable  compounds.  That  this 
change  is  produced  by  the  embryo  was  shown  by  removing  the  same 
and  placing  the  seeds  in  moist  earth  when  the  endosperm  retained 
its  entire  amount  of  alkaloids.  In  Physostigma  venenosum  the 
eserine  disappears  in  the  cotyledons  during  germination,  and  the 
new  compounds  are  transported  into  the  young  plant.  Eserine  dis- 
appears also  when  the  embryo  is  removed  and  the  seed  is  then 
planted.  From  his  experiments  the  author  draws  the  conclusion 
that  the  alkaloids  act  as  reserve  material  for  the  nourishment  of  the 
young  plant  and  must  undergo  a  change  in  chemical  constitution  to 
become  assimilable. 
ABSTRACTS  FROM  THE  FRENCH  JOURNALS. 
Translated  for  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy. 
Danger  in  Crystallized  Aconitine. — The  Journal  de  Pharmacie 
d'  Anvers  for  February  reports  a  case  of  death  after  ingesting  two 
pills  of  a  quarter  of  a  milligramme  each,  of  crystallized  aconitine. 
They  were  prescribed  by  a  physician.  It  is  now  two  years  since  the 
Societe  de  Pharmacie  de  Paris  recommended  that  pills  of  this  sub- 
stance should  not  contain  more  than  one-tenth  of  a  milligramme 
