DOES  NICOTINA  EXIST  IN  GREEN  TOBACCO?  505 
a  volatile  alkaloid.    The  first  experiment  detailed  above  was  in 
this  view,  but  was  not  continued. 
Tobacco  leaves. — Before  proceeding  to  remark  on  any  results 
with  green  tobacco,  it  is  proper  to  state  that  an  Essay  on  Tobacco 
by  Joseph  C.  Turnpenny,  published  in  1833,  (Jour.  Phila.  Coll. 
Pharm.  v.)  gives  an  account  of  some  experiments  with  green 
tobacco  leaves,  in  which  the  recent  leaves  were  macerated  three 
days  with  water  and  acidulated  water,  and  then  after  saturation 
with  magnesia  were  distilled.  The  distillate  in  each  instance  had 
an  alkaline  reaction,  smelled  strongly  of  tobacco  and  had  an 
amber  color,  and  when  agitated  with  ether  ceded  to  that  liquid 
a  small  quantity  of  brownish  matter.  This  he  deemed  to  be 
narcotic,  owing  to  its  odor  and  alkaline  reaction.  The  charac- 
teristic tests  for  nicotine  were  not  applied,  because  at  that  time 
they  were  not  known.  A  subsequent  experiment  detailed  the 
results  with  Kentucky  tobacco  of  commerce,  and  afterwards  the 
effects  of  nicotina  on  a  cat  are  described,  but  unfortunately  it  is 
not  stated  whether  that  derived  from  green  tobacco  was  so  tried 
or  not,  and  the  subject  is  left  in  doubt. 
Dr.  Gregory  in  his  Organic  Chemistry,  (London,  1856,  p.  411,] 
ventures  the  following  remark  without  supporting  it  by  any  au- 
thority or  experiment.  "It  is  probable  that  nicotina,  besides 
being  found  in  the  fresh  leaves  of  tobacco,  is  produced  in  larger 
quantity  during  the  fermentation  to  which  the  leaves  are  sub- 
jected in  the  manufacture  of  tobacco."  This  is  an  important 
assertion,  as  the  following  experiments  will  exhibit. 
The  tobacco  plants  furnishing  material  for  these  experiments 
were  about  five  feet  high,  in  bloom,  the  lower  leaves  varying 
from  15  to  20  inches  in  length,  and  in  all  respects  in  good  con- 
dition. They  were  grown  in  the  garden  of  Dr.  Wood,  and  to 
insure  careful  results  were  taken  up  with  roots  and  earth  and 
transferred  to  my  own  premises,  where  their  vegetation  continued 
until  the  seeds  were  formed — the  leaves  being  removed  from  time 
to  time,  as  they  were  wanted. 
In  experimenting  with  the  leaves  in  their  green  state,  the 
menstruum  chosen  has  been  diluted  alcohol,  so  as  to  avoid  all 
possibility  of  fermentation  developing  an  alkaloid  not  pre-existent. 
It  was  also  ascertained  that  the  leaves  lost  89  per  cent,  in  drying, 
so  that  they  represented  only  about  one  ninth  of  their  weight 
when  dry. 
