THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
FEBRUARY,  igoi. 
THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  IPECACUANHA. 
By  Dr.  B.  H.  Paul  and  A.  J.  Cowni/by. 
Ipecacuanha  is  probably,  next  to  opium  and  cinchona  bark,  one  of 
the  most  important  drugs  in  the  official  materia  medica.  Its  chemi- 
cal history,  however,  has  been  for  a  long  time  very  imperfect,  and 
although  some  of  its  medicinal  effects  have  been  ascribed  to  the 
presence  of  an  alkaloid,  there  has  been  hitherto  considerable  doubt 
whether  that  was  always  the  case.  In  prosecuting  an  inquiry  as  to 
the  amount  and  nature  of  the  alkaloid  in  ipecacuanha  to  which  the 
name  emetine  has  been  given,  reference  was,  of  course,  made  to  the 
observations  of  previous  experimenters.  Instead,  however,  of  deriv- 
ing much  assistance  from  the  statements  of  their  results,  we  found 
that  they  led  to  considerable  uncertainty  resp'ecting  the  chemical 
identity  of  the  alkaloid  described  as  emetine. 
The  investigation  of  ipecacuanha  from  a  chemical  point  of  view 
was  first  undertaken  by  Pelletier,1  shortly  after  Sertlirner's  discovery 
6f  morphine.  Pelletier  showed  that  the  medicinal  properties  of  the 
drug  were  due  to  a  "  proximate  principle  or  matiere  vomitive,"  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  of  Emetine,  from  efieco  to  vomit.  A  for- 
mula for  its  preparation  was  introduced  into  the  French  Codex  in 
1 8 1 8.2  The  product  so  obtained — amounting  to  1 6  per  cent,  of  the 
drug — was  little  more  than  a  concentrated  alcoholic  extract.  It  had 
the  form  of  transparent  scales  of  a  reddish-brown  color,  acid 
reaction  and  bitter  taste,  was  very  deliquescent,  soluble  in  all  propor- 
1  A?males  de  Chim.  et  de  Pkys.,  IV,  172,  and  Joicrn,  de  Pharm.,  »,  III,  145  ; 
IV,  322,  1817. 
2  Codex  Med.,  1818,  179. 
(57) 
