ON THE CONSTITUTION OP BEBEERINE. 
113 
ART. XXXVII. — ON THE CONSTITUTION OF BEBEERINE. By 
Douglas Maclagan, M. D., F. R. S. E., and Thomas G. Tilley, Esq. 
Professor of Chemistry in the Queen's College, Birmingham. 
Bebeerine is the name given by Dr. Rodie, Of Demerara, 
to an organic base, of which he pointed out the existence in 
the bark of a tree of that colony, known by the name of 
Bebeeru or Green Heart. This tree has recently been ex- 
amined botanically by Sir Robert Schomburgk, and found 
to be a species of Nectandra, which, in compliment to Dr. 
Rodie, he has named N. Rodiei {Hooker's London Journal 
of Botany, December, 1844.) 
The general properties of the alkali, and the preparation 
of its sulphate for medicinal use were further described by 
one of us in a paper read before the Royal Society of Edin- 
burgh, in April 1843, [Transactions, vol. xv. part iii.) In 
this memoir an account, was given of the preparation of be- 
beerine, in what was regarded as a state of chemical purity, 
and of its separation by means of asther from what was be- 
lieved to be another alkaline matter, sipeerine ; but as the 
substance is neither crystallizable nor colourless, it could not 
decidedly be affirmed to be chemically pure until its consti- 
tution had been determined by ultimate analysis. This de- 
sideratum it is proposed to supply in the present paper. 
The chief difficulty in preparing the pure alkali arose from 
the troublesome process required to free it from adhering 
tannin, considerable loss being experienced in the methods 
then adopted. This has subsequently been accomplished 
with greater facility by the following process, which may 
be applicable to the purification of other organic bases. 
The sulphate prepared for medicinal use, which is always 
more or less impure, is precipitated by ammonia; and the 
alkaline matter thus separated, is, after washing with water, 
triturated with about an equal weight of freshly precipitated 
