THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JANUARY,  1876. 
THE  ALKALOIDS  OF  VERATRUM  VIRIDE  AND  ALBUM— HISTORY, 
PREPARATION  AND  RECOVERY  FROM  COMPLEX 
MIXTURES  AND  THE  BLOOD. 
BY  THEO.  G.  WORMLEY,  M.  D. 
Chemical  History. — Much  discrepancy  has  existed  among  observers 
in  regard  to  the  exact  nature  of  the  active  principle  or  principles  of 
Veratrum  Viride. 
Thus,  in  1838,  Mr.  H.  Worthington  announced  that  he  had  obtained 
from  the  plant  uan  alkaloid  substance  identical  with  veratria." 
And,  in  1857,  Mr.  J*  Richardson,  after  an  elaborate  examination 
of  the  subject,  concluded  that  "not  only  in  its  physical  characters,  but 
also  in  its  chemical  actions,  the  alkaloid  of  veratrum  viride  is  identical 
with  veratria  of  the  Veratrum  sabadilla."  (Amer.  Journ.  Pbar.,  1857, 
p.  209.) 
In  1862,  Mr.  G.  J.  Scattergood  announced  that  in  addition  to  vera- 
trin,  the  plant  contained  another  substance,  similar  in  nature  to  that 
alkaloid,  but  insoluble  in  ether,  and  also  a  third  substance,  a  resin  to 
which  the  sedative  action  of  the  drug  was  chiefly  due.    (Ibid.,  1863, 
P-  740 
So  also,  in  1864,  Prof.  S.  R.  Percy  extracted  from  the  plant  an 
alkaloid,  which  he  concluded  had  all  the  chemical  properties  of  veratrin, 
from  Veratrum  sabadilla.    (Prize  Essay.) 
On  the  other  hand,  in  1865,  Mr.  Chas.  Bullock  claimed  (Amer. 
'Journ.  Pbar.,  1865,  p.  321,)  that  the  alkaloid  in  question  was  not 
identical  with  veratria,  as  it  did  not  respond  to  the  sulphuric  and  hydro- 
chloric acid  tests  for  that  alkaloid;  that  the  resin  of  Scattergood  owed 
its  activity  to  the  presence  of  another  alkaloid  ;  and  that  these  two 
principles  exhibited  the  same  reactions  with  the  mineral  acids  and  with 
liquid  reagents,  the  chief  difference  being  in  their  fusing  points  and  in 
that  one  was  soluble  while  the  other  was  insoluble  in  ether.  Prof.  Geo. 
B.  Wood  named  these  substances  respectively  veratroidia  and  viridia. 
