144  BEKBEEIN  IN  HYDRASTIS  CANADENSIS. 
2.  The  combustion  for  the  determination  of  carbon  and  hy- 
drogen was  made  with  bichromate  of  lead. 
0440  substance  dried  at  100°  C.  yielded 
Carbonic  acid  =  1-0450  which  corresponds  to  carbon  =  64*77  per  ct. 
Water  =  0-2035     "  "         hydrogen  =  5-138  per  ct. 
Muriate  of  berberin  dried  at  100°  C.  requires  in  100  parts 
64-20  carbon  and  4-841  hydrogen. 
3.  The  quantity  of  chlorine  was  found  by  precipitating  the 
boiling  solution  of  the  substance  with  nitrate  of  silver.  This 
mixture  was  filtered  when  still  quite  hot,  and  washed  on  the 
filter  with  boiling  water. 
The  material  also  in  this  instance  wTas  dried  at  a  temperature 
of  100°  C. 
0-497  substance  yielded  0«1725  chloride  of  silver;  this  corres- 
ponds to  8*579  per  cent,  of  chlorine. 
Muriate  of  berberin  requires  9-03  per  cent,  chlorine. 
Berberin  has  been  discovered  thus  far  in  different  species  of 
the  Berberideae  and  in  one  or  two  species  of  the  Menispermeae. 
This  occurrence  was  one  of  the  principal  arguments,  with  which 
the  union  of  these  two  families  in  one  under  the  name  of  Coc- 
culine?e  was  justified. 
It  is,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  the  first  instance  that  this  interest- 
ing body  has  been  found  in  a  plant,  which  belongs  to  the  Ra- 
nunculaceae.  This  circumstance  is,  therefore,  a  proof,  that  even 
true  alkaloids  may  occur  in  several  plants  which  belong  to  dif- 
ferent families. — Amer.  Jour.  Sci.  and  Arts.,  Jan.  1862. 
£Note. — It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Dr.  Mahla  did  not  consult  the 
paper  of  Mr.  Alfred  B.  Durand,  (see  vol.  23d,  page  113,  of  this  Journal,) 
alluded  to  in  the  U.  S.  Dispensatory,  who  first  isolated  a  distinct  crystalline 
alkaloid  from  the  Hydrastis.  I  have  a  sample  of  Mr.  Durand's  hydrastin, 
and  it  is  not  berberin,  but  crystallizes  in  light  yellowish  crystals  of  con- 
siderable size.  The  yellow  coloring  matter  noticed  by  Mr.  D.  is  probably 
berberin.  As  Mr.  D.  did  not  resort  to  precipitation  by  muriatic  acid,  he 
did  not  notice  the  peculiarity  of  its  precipitation  in  yellow  silky  crystals. 
Mr.  Merrill,  of  Cincinnati,  who  has  recently  sent  a  specimen  of  the  same 
alkaloid,  as  that  described  by  Durand,  to  this  city,  says  it  is  quite  distinct 
from  the  yellow  crystalline  hydrastin,  as  used  by  the  Eclectics.  "We 
invite  Dr.  Mania's  attention  to  this  subject. — Editor  Amer.  Journ.  Pharm.'J 
