A^June;mrm'}        Alkaloids  of  the  Death  Camas.  263 
with  ether.  The  residue  from  the  ether  consisted  of  a  small 
amount  of  crystals  in  tufts  of  needles,  which,  with  strong  sulphuric 
acid,  passed  through  shades  of  lemon-yellow,  orange,  bright  red, 
rose-red  and  violet.  A  further  extraction  of  the  material  with  ether 
yielded  almost  pure  crystals,  which  gave  the  same  color  reaction 
with  sulphuric  acid.    The  reactions  are  those  of  sabadine. 
By  further  extraction  of  the  ethereal  residue  after  separating  saba- 
dine, a  crystalline  compound  giving  a  permanent  blood-red  color 
with  sulphuric  acid  was  obtained.  The  amount  was  too  small  for 
complete  identification,  but  this  reaction  is  characteristic  of  sabadi- 
nine.  The  alkaloid  was  obtained  by  treating  the  acidulated  solu- 
tion with  ether,  rendering  alkaline  and  again  extracting  with  ether. 
The  powdered  material,  after  extraction  with  ether,  was  boiled 
with  80  per  cent,  alcohol  containing  tartaric  acid  in  the  proportion 
of  1  gram  of  acid  to  100  grams  of  material.  The  alcoholic  extract 
was  diluted  with  water,  again  acidulated  with  tartaric  acid  and 
shaken  with  ether,  which  removed  most  of  the  impurities.  The 
alkaloid  was  then  set  free  with  sodium  carbonate,  extracted  with 
ether  and  further  purified  by  repeating  the  treatment  with  acid  and 
alkali.  The  residue  from  the  ether  was  amorphous  and  gave  a  fine 
blood-red  color  with  sulphuric  acid,  developing  from  lemon-yellow, 
which  quickly  passed  to  an  orange-red  and  blood-red,  with  a  green 
fluorescence.  Heated  with  hydrochloric  acid,  the  alkaloid  gave  a 
yellow  color  which,  on  continued  boiling,  passed  to  a  bright  red,  and, 
after  standing  for  a  short  time,  to  a  rose-red.  After  exposure  to  the 
air  for  several  hours,  the  color  changed  to  violet.  A  larger  amount 
of  the  alkaloid,  boiled  with  strong  hydrochloric  acid,  became  cloudy 
and  separated  a  precipitate  which  redissolved  on  further  boiling 
with  a  dark  red-brown  color,  which  changed  to  an  olive-green  on 
diluting  with  water.  On  exposure  to  the  air  the  dirty  olive-green 
solution  assumed  a  violet  shade,  and  in  the  course  of  an  hour  be- 
came a  magnificent  purple.  Some  of  the  veratrine  alkaloids,  after 
long  exposure  to  the  air  in  the  presence  of  moisture,  develop  a  vio- 
let color  with  mineral  acids,  but  I  have  been  unable  to  find  any  de- 
scription of  this  particular  reaction.  With  strong  nitric  acid  the 
alkaloid  yielded  a  fugitive  rose  color,  changing  immediately  to  a 
bright  and  permanent  yellow.  The  alkaloid  proved  slightly  soluble 
in  water,  and  readily  soluble  in  methyl,  ethyl  and  amyl  alcohol,  ether, 
chloroiorm,  benzol  and  acetone.    The  residues  in  every  case,  as 
