DEPORTMENT  OF  ALKALOIDS  WITH  REAGENTS,  ETC.  447 
The  inverted  crucible  hanging  like  a  bell  at  the  end  of  the 
tube,  when  immersed  in  water  contained  in  a  vessel  not  very 
much  exceeding  it  in  diameter,  offers  a  large  surface  for  the  ab- 
sorption of  the  acid  gas,  while  a  retrocession  of  the  liquid  from 
absorption  or  change  of  temperature  is  impossible. 
The  cover  to  the  retort  may  be  cast  in  one  piece  with  a  shoul- 
der, or  be  made  of  two  discs  of  lead  of  the  size  of  the  inner  and 
outer  diameters  of  the  bore,  and  held  together  by  a  ring  of  lead 
cast  into  them  and  serving  as  a  handle.  For  a  lute  I  spread  a 
thin  layer  of  gypsum  on  the  surfaces  in  contact,  and  cover  the 
joint  on  the  outside  with  a  paste  of  rye  mcaL — Am.  Journ.  Sci. 
and  ArtSy  July,  1866. 
DEPORTMEN1  OF  THE  MOST  IMPORTANT  ALKALOIDS 
WITH  REAGENTS,  AND  A  SYSTEMATIC  METHOD  OF 
EFFECTING  THE  DETECTION  OF  THESE  SUBSTANCES. 
By  A,  Wadgymar,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Botany  in  the 
Humboldt  Medical  College,  at  St.  Louis. 
The  detection  and  separation  of  the  vegeto-alkalies,  or  alka- 
loids, is  a  task  of  greater  difficulty  than  that  of  most  of  the  in- 
organic substances  and  bases.  Although  this  difficulty  is  owing 
partly  to  the  circumstance  that  scarcely  one  of  the  compounds 
which  the  alkaloids  form  with  other  substances  is  absolutely  in- 
soluble, or  particularly  characterized  by  its  color  or  any  striking 
property,  yet  must  be  ascribed  to  the  want  of  accurate  and  mi- 
nute investigations  of  the  salts  and  other  compounds  of  the 
alkaloids,  and  of  the  products  of  their  decomposition.  We, 
therefore,  generally  see  and  apprehend  the  reactions  only  in 
their  extended  manifestations,  but  without  being  able  to  connect 
them  with  the  causes  producing  them,  which  makes  it  impossible 
to  understand  all  the  conditions  which  may  exercise  a  modifying 
influence. 
Although,  therefore,  in  the  present  imperfect  state  of  our 
knowledge  of  these  bodies,  an  attempt  to  define  their  deportment 
with  reagents,  and  base  thereon  a  method  of  effecting  their  sepa- 
ration, or,  at  least,  their  individual  detection,  must  necessarily 
fall  far  short  of  perfection,  yet,  having  made  a  great  many  ex- 
periments on  the  nature  and  behaviour  of  these  substances,  I 
