Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
July,  1879.  J 
Veratrum  Viride. 
339 
Resin  from  the  Soft  Extract. — To  prevent  any  change  which  might  be 
caused  in  saponifying  the  resin  with  lime,  the  following  process  was 
adopted  with  this,  as  also,  subsequently,  with  the  hard  resin  : 
The  fatty  matter  was  removed  by  petroleum  benzin.  The  resin, 
rubbed  to  a  fine  powder,  was  made  into  a  smooth  paste  with  water, 
introduced  into  a  bottle  and  a  solution  of  carbonate  of  soda  containing 
a  little  caustic  soda  added  until  the  resin  was  dissolved.  It  was  then 
agitated  with  ether  and  the  ether  removed.  The  washing  with  ether 
was  then  repeated.  The  product  left  on  distillation  of  the  ether  was 
dissolved  in  acetic  acid,  filtered  and  precipitated  by  carbonate  of  soda 
containing  a  little  caustic  soda.    Weight  of  product,  9*3  grains. 
The  mother-water  was  made  acid,  evaporated,  and  after  being  made 
alkaline,  treated  with  ether.  The  product,  dissolved  in  acetic  acid, 
filtered  and  precipitated,  gave  0"j  grain  more  of  alkaloids.  Total 
weight  of  mixed  alkaloids  from  the  resin,  10  grains. 
The  alkaloids  separated  by  nitrate  of  potassium  gave 
Nitrate  of  jervia,  ....  8*4  grains. 
Other  alkaloids,  .  .  .  i*6 
Hard  Resin. — 429  grains,  representing  the  yield  from  one  pound  of 
root,  was  powdered  and  digested  in  petroleum  benzin.  The  loss  of 
weight,  representing  fatty  matter,  was  847  grains.  After  removal  of 
the  benzin  by  evaporation,  the  resin  was  reduced  to  a  fine  powder  and 
treated  as  in  the  previous  experiment,  by  dissolving  it  in  an  alkaline  solu- 
tion and  treating  the  solution  with  ether.  The  weight  of  mixed  alka- 
loids obtained  was  22*5  grains.  The  mother-water  was  made  acid, 
evaporated,  and,  after  addition  of  caustic  soda,  treated  with  ether.  The 
product  obtained  weighed  0*8  grain.  The  alkaloids,  separated  in  the 
manner  preceding,  gave 
Nitrate  of  jervia,  .  .  .  .  14*1  grains. 
Other  alkaloids,         .  .  .  .  6'i 
The  resin  from  the  soft  extract  and  the  hard  resin  were  then 
precipitated  from  their  alkaline  solution  by  hydrochloric  acid,  and 
dried.  The  solution  was  made  neutral  with  soda  and  evaporated  to 
dryness.  This  product  was  added  to  the  precipitated  resin  and  the 
whole  mixed  with  an  equal  weight  of  lime  previously  slaked,  and  the 
mixture  boiled  for  a  few  minutes,  then  evaporated  to  dryness  by  steam 
heat.  The  dry  mass  was  powdered  and  exhausted  by  hot  alcohol.  The 
product  left  on  distillation  of  the  alcohol  was  dissolved  in  diluted  acetic 
