35o 
Active  Principles  of  Jeqnirity. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1890. 
and  may  be  titrated  by  hyposulphite.  (2)  By  treatment  with 
caustic  soda,  five-sixths  of  the  "  free  "  iodine  is  converted  into 
iodide,  and  one-sixth  into  iodate  of  sodium ;  so  that  of  the  total 
iodine,  eight-ninths  (57-28  per  cent.)  is  precipitated  by  silver  nitrate 
from  a  solution  containing  excess  of  ammonia  (in  which  silver  iodate 
is  soluble),  and  the  remaining  ninth  (7-13  per  cent.)  on  the  addition 
of  sulphurous  acid,  the  theoretical  percentages  being  57  02  and  7-12, 
respectively.  (3)  By  treatment  with  water  and  carbon  bisulphide, 
or  by  boiling  with  water  alone,  the  loosely  combined  iodine  may  be 
removed,  and  on  evaporation  the  colorless  liquid  yields  crystals  of 
the  ordinary  hydriodide. 
A  complete  synthesis  of  the  salt  has  been  effected  by  dissolving 
the  theoretical  quantities  oi  caffeine  and  free  iodine  in  hot  hydriodic 
acid,  previously  saturated  in  the  cold  with  the  "  tri-iodide,"  when 
the  theoretical  quantity  of  this  di-iodo-hydriodide  crystallized  out 
on  cooling. 
As  the  still  more  highly  iodized  compounds  of  caffeine  present 
many  features  of  interest,  both  chemically  and  therapeutically, 
experiments  on  their  preparation  and  properties  are  still  proceeding. 
—  The  Chemist  and  Druggist,  May  10,  p.  636. 
PHYSIOLOGICAL  ACTION  OF  THE  ACTIVE  PRINCIPLES 
OF  JEQUIRITY.1 
By  S.  Martin  and  R.  N.  Wolfenden. 
Klein  has  shown  that  the  poisonous  properties  of  the  seeds  of 
Abrus  precatorius  (jequirity)  cannot  be  due  to  a  bacillus,  and  Warden 
and  Waddell  (Non-bacillar  nature  of  Abrus  poison,  Calcutta,  1884) 
showed  it  to  be  due  to  the  action  of  a  poisonous  proteid.  The 
protei'ds  in  the  seeds  are  two  in  number,  a  globulin  and  an  albumose, 
and  the  present  paper  relates  to  the  physiological  action  of  the  first 
of  these.  The  protei'ds  were  obtained  by  extracting  the  crushed 
seeds  with  15  per  cent,  solution  of  sodium  chloride;  they  were  pre- 
cipitated from  this  extract  by  saturation  with  ammonium  sulphate  ; 
the  precipitate  was  redissolved  by  adding  water ;  and  from  this 
solution  the  globulin  was  precipitated  by  dialysis,  collected,  washed 
and  dried. 
1  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.,  46,  94 — 100.  Reprinted  from  Jour.  Chem.  Soc.,  April, 
1890,  p.  398. 
