AmM°ay?Sarm*}        The  Chemistry  of  Ipecacuanha.  259 
leum  spirit  for  extracting  the  drug.  While  the  product  thus 
obtained  was  an  indefinite  mixture  of  cephaeline  and  emetine  as  a 
consequence  of  the  action  of  that  solvent  on  both  the  alkaloids, 
probably  the  greater  part  of  the  emetine  was  not  extracted  at  all  by 
the  petroleum  spirit.  In  the  investigation  by  Kunz  petroleum 
spirit  was  also  used  for  extraction  with  a  similar  result,  as  shown  by 
the  fact  that  the  alkaloid  obtained  is  described  as  (partially  ?)  soluble 
in  caustic  alkalies.  The  formula  deduced  from  analysis  by  Kunz 
was,  therefore,  necessarily  incorrect,  as  the  material  operated  upon 
by  him  must  have  been  of  a  mixed  nature.  The  experiments  made 
by  Kunz  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  constitution  of  emetine 
were  also  for  the  same  reason  fallacious,  and,  therefore,  no  import- 
ance can  be  assigned  to  the  conclusions  arrived  at  by  him  in  1887, 
or  to  those  which  he  has  more  recently  put  forward  on  the  same 
basis. 
The  investigation  of  the  alkaloid  of  ipecacuanha  by  Glenard  was, 
however,  more  fortunate  in  its  result.  That  circumstance  was  due 
to  the  care  taken  in  obtaining  the  alkaloid  in  the  state  of  a  crys- 
tallized neutral  hydrochloride,  after  extracting  it  from  the  drug  by 
treatment  with  lime  and  ether.  As  a  natural  consequence  of  this 
mode  of  operating,  the  cephaeline  was  eliminated,  and  emetine  was 
isolated  in  a  pure  condition,  as  shown  by  the  results  of  Glenard's 
analyses,  which  correspond  very  closely  with  our  own.  Indications 
of  the  existence  of  another  alkaloid  were  observed  by  Glenard,  but 
they  were  not  followed  up  by  him. 
Glenard's  observations  appear  to  have  received  little  notice,  how- 
ever, and  in  most  chemical  works  the  formula  assigned  to  emetine 
by  Kunz  has  been  adopted  as  the  most  satisfactory.  That  view 
must  now  be  abandoned,  since  the  data  already  published  in  our 
previous  papers  prove  that  the-  substance  to  which  it  relates  could 
not  have  possessed  chemical  individuality. 
It  is  satisfactory  in  connection  with  this  point  to  be  able  to  refer 
to  results  obtained  by  Messrs.  E.  Merck,  of  Darmstadt,  in  following 
up  our  observations  on  the  alkaloids  of  ipecacuanha.  In  the  Bericht, 
for  1894,  recently  published  by  that  firm,  it  is  stated  that  on  repe- 
tition of  our  work  in  their  manufactory,  our  descriptions  have  been 
fully  confirmed,  while  the  statements  of  Dr.  Kunz-Krause  could  not 
be  adopted.  Following  the  indications  given  in  the  papers  already 
published  by  us,  Messrs.  E.  Merck  now  manufacture  emetine  and 
