Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1876. 
Veratrum  Viride. 
149 
With  hydrochloric  acid,  2l  light  pink  color  in  the  cold  ;  on  heating,  the 
color  passed  to  a  brownish-yellow. 
With  sulphuric  acid,  a  turbid  yellow  color,  soon  changing  to  a  mahog- 
any color,  passing  eventually  to  brown. 
Heated  on  platinum  foil,  it  burned  with  a  smoky  flame,  and  left  no 
residue. 
At  this  stage  of  proceeding  the  question  arose,  Can  veratria  be  recog- 
nized by  color  tests  in  the  presence  of  an  excess  of  jervia  ?  To  deter- 
mine the  question,  ten  parts  of  commercial  veratria  were  intimately 
mixed  with  one  part  of  crystallized  jervia.  The  color  reactions  were 
as  follows  : 
With  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  gives  a  yellow  color,  changing  to  a 
reddish-brown,  surrounded  by  a  margin  of  green. 
With  hydrochloric  acid,  in  the  cold,  a  faint  pink  seen  on  the  upper 
margin  ;  on  heating,  a  brownish-yellow  color.  The  purple-red  color 
of  veratria  does  not  appear,  neither  does  the  greenish  hue  given  by  jer- 
via alone. 
The  reactions  of  veratria  were  so  masked  by  the  jervia  that  no  cor- 
rect judgment  could  be  expressed  that  veratria  was  present. 
Veratria  is  soluble  in  ether ;  according  to  Fresenius,  less  soluble 
than  in  alcohol,  when  the  veratria  is  pure.1  Jervia,  when  pure,  is 
almost  insoluble  in  ether,  but  in  the  presence  of  the  associated  resin  it 
dissolves  to  a  limited  extent ;  hence  a  separation  of  the  two  alkaloids 
by  ether  cannot  be  effected  so  long  as  resin  is  present.  The  jervia 
must  first  be  removed  ;  to  effect  this  object,  I  took  advantage  of  the 
insolubility  of  nitrate  of  jervia  in  a  solution  of  nitrate  of  potassium. 
One  part  of  pure  jervia  in  1000  parts  of  water  (acetic  solution)  is  pre- 
cipitated almost  immediately  on  addition  of  a  solution  of  nitrate  of 
potassium  in  excess  ;  complete  precipitation  is  not  effected  if  any  resin 
is  present.  The  precipitate  is  not  soluble  in  excess  of  acetic  acid  ;  it 
dissolves  on  heating  the  solution,  and  crystallizes  out  on  cooling. 
Veratria,  when  dissolved  in  acetic  acid,  one  part  in  sixty,  the  solu- 
tion containing  excess  of  acid,  is  not  disturbed  by  addition  of  a  solu- 
tion of  nitrate  of  potassium.  If  a  large  excess  of  the  potassium  solu- 
tion is  added,  it  causes  a  slight  cloudiness,  which  does  not  disappear  on 
the  application  of  heat.  After  standing  twenty- four  hours,  no  precip- 
itation of  the  alkaloid  takes  place. 
1  See  Fresenius1  "Qualitative  Analysis,"  American  edition,  1865,  page  404. 
