528 
The  Alkaloids  of  Ipecacuanha. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I     October,  1S95. 
than  another.  Any  one  who  wishes  to  work  gum  benjamin  has 
merely  to  go  into  the  jungle,  search  for  and  notch  as  many  trees  as  he 
pleases,  like  people,  for  example,  who  go  into  the  jungle  to  cut  posts 
for  their  houses.  Nor  is  there  any  tax  or  other  emolument  accruing 
to  the  country  from  either  the  trunk  or  the  gum  of  the  gum  benja- 
min tree ;  nor  is  the  gum  benjamin  trade  one  in  the  prosecution  of 
which  much  thieving  or  fighting  arises,  whether  it  is  because  there 
are  many  people  together  at  a  time,  or  because,  being  in  the  jungle 
where  there  are  fierce  tigers,  one  man  cannot  steal  along  alone  by 
himself,  but  is  obliged  to  travel  with  parties,  and  so  robbery  and 
theft  are  rendered  impossible,  is  uncertain.  This  gum  is  sweet- 
scented,  and  is  much  used  in  mixing  either  with  medicines  or  scents 
of  various  kinds.  For  whichever  of  these  purposes  it  is  sold,  it 
always  fetches  a  high  price,  like  other  valuable  commodities,  and 
for  that  reason  gum  benjamin  is  an  article  of  commerce  which  mer- 
chants have  bought  and  sold  from  time  immemorial  to  the  present 
day. 
THE  ACTION   OF    HEAT  UPON  THE  ALKALOIDS  OF 
IPECACUANHA.1  — 
By  Dr.  B.  H.  Paul  and  A.  J.  Cown^y. 
Experiments  carried  out  by  Braithwaite  and  Umney,  as  well  as 
some  previous  observations  by  Cripps,  showed  that  by  heating  the 
acetic  acid  extract  of  ipecacuanha  some  considerable  loss  of  alkaloid 
resulted.  Hence  it  was  inferred  that  the  official  B.  P.  process  for 
preparing  ipecacuanha  wine  is  open  to  objection,  since  the  extract 
obtained  in  that  way  requires  to  be  heated  for  several  hours  on  a 
water  bath  before  it  can  be  reduced  to  powder  as  directed. 
At  the  time  these  experiments  were  made  the  existence  of  two 
distinct  alkaloids  in  ipecacuanha  root  had  not  been  ascertained,  and 
the  question  arose  whether  the  observed  loss  of  alkaloid  applied  to 
both  emetine  and  cephaeline,  or  only  to  one  of  these  alkaloids. 
From  our  own  observations  we  were  of  opinion  that  the  salts  of 
these  alkaloids  do  not  suffer  alteration  when  heated  to  a  tempera- 
ture of  ioo°  C,  but  it  seemed  desirable  to  obtain  some  further  in- 
formation on  this  point,  and  also  to  ascertain  whether  the  loss  of 
alkaloid  observed  in  making  ipecacuanha  wine  is  due  to  the  altera- 
1  Pharmaceutical  Journal  (4),  1,  2, 
