368  Alkaloids  of  the  Veratrum  Family.     { AmjJu<i"I^niu 
small  bulk,  addition  of  water,  filtration  from  resin,  and  treating  with  a. 
slight  excess  of  caustic  soda  and  ether.  After  repeated  washing  with- 
ether  an  insoluble  precipitate  was  left,  which  seemed  to  consist  princi- 
pally of  a  base  hitherto  undescribed  ;  this  the  authors  name  pseudojervia,. 
C29H43N07.  It  is  snow-white,  and  melts  at  2990,  crystallizing  anhy- 
drous from  alcohol.  With  sulphuric  acid  it  gives  a  yellow  solution,, 
gradually  turning  green.  The  ethereal  solution  contains,  besides  small 
quantities  of  pseudojervia,  several  other  alkaloids  which  can  be  sepa- 
rated by  shaking  the  crude  ethereal  solution  with  aqueous  tartaric  acid 
and  treating  the  mixed  tartrates  with  soda  and  a  small  bulk  of  ether  -y 
a  residue  is  left  containing  pseudojervia,  an  amorphous  alkaloid,  named 
by  the  authors  veratralbia  and  jervia.  Jervia,  C26H37N03,  forms  a 
sulphate  almost  insoluble  in  hot  and  cold  water  ;  it  crystallizes  with 
2  molecules  of  water,  melts  at  2390,  and  gives  with  sulphuric  acid  the 
same  colors  as  pseudojervia;  the  sulphate  of  pseudojervia  is,  howeverr 
tolerably  soluble  in  water.  The  second  ethereal  solution  deposits  on 
spontaneous  evaporation  crystals  of  jervia  mixed  with  another  baseT 
which  forms  a  readily  soluble  sulphate;  this  base  gives  with  sulphuric 
acid  a  red  coloration,  hence  the  authors  suggest  the  name  rubijervia.. 
It  melts  at  2370,  and  resembles  in  many  respects  pseudojervia,  forms 
well  crystallized  salts,  and  crystallizes  anhydrous  as  C26H43N02.  The 
ethereal  mother  liquor  of  these  crystals  dries  up  to  a  varnish,  consisting 
chiefly  of  veratralbia,  C28H43N05;  a  small  quantity  of  another  base  is 
present,  yielding  veratric  acid  on  saponification;  the  mixture  of  vera- 
tralbia, and  this  base  is  powerfully  sternutatory,  but  this  property  is  lost 
by  boiling  with  alcoholic  potash;  hence  it  is  probable  that  the  sternu- 
tatory constituent  is  veratria'  (Couerbe).  Neither  jervia,  pseudojervia,, 
rubijervia  nor  veratralbia  excite  sneezing.  Veratralbia  gives  with  sul- 
phuric acid  a  red  coloration,  resembling  that  given  by  cevadina  and 
veratria.  No  evidence  of  saponification  or  other  decompositions  was. 
obtained  on  boiling  these  bases  with  alcoholic  potash,  the  minute  quan- 
tity of  supposed  veratria  excepted. 
Alkaloids  of  Veratrum  virtde. — On  treating  about  18  kilos  of  dried 
roots  precisely  as  described  in  the  foregoing  paper,  the  first  treatment 
with  ether  left  undissolved  some  pseudojervia;  the  tartratesobtained 
from  the  ethereal  solution  yielded  no  veratralbia,  but  jervia  crystallized 
out  from  the  second  ethereal  solution  on  standing;  traces  of  rubijervia 
were  observed.    The  ethereal  mother  liquors  dried  up  to  a  powerfully 
