ii4 
Chemistry  of  Ipecacuanha. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I      March,  1901. 
assistance  by  examination  of  emetine  and  cephaeline  ;x  as  well  as 
by  E.  Merck.2 
Dr.  Hesse's  results  as  compared  with  our  own  are  thus  tabulated  : 
Calculated. 
Emetine. 
Paul  and  Cownle3T. 
Hesse. 
Paul  and  Cownlev. 
CisHnoXOo  or 
CaoH44N204. 
Hesse. 
C30H40N2O.. 
72*01 
71-99 
72-58 
72-87 
8-86 
8-12 
8-87 
8-50 
N  
575 
5'64 
5'66 
21-63 
21-67 
21-52 
21*56 
Cephaeline. 
CuHgoNOa  or 
C28H40N2O4. 
CjsHsgNaO*. 
C  
71-28 
71-84 
7i'79 
72- 10 
H  
8'69 
8-n 
8-54 
8-15 
N  
6-24 
_ 
5*94 
6-oo 
Platinum  
22-38 
22*40 
22-2I 
2224 
In  other  words,  then,  these  results  agree  so  closely  that  our  for- 
mulae for  the  two  bases  may  be  accepted  as  correct  if  we  assign  to 
each  the  formula  respectively  as,  emetine,  Co(lH44N204,  and  cephae- 
line, CogH^NoC^,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  molecular  weights  i 
Cephaeline. 
234  x  2  =  468 
466 
Emetine. 
Paul  and  Cownley  248  x  2  =  496 
Hesse  494 
THE  PHARMACOLOGY  OF  EMETINE  AND  CEPHAELINE. 
Dr.  R.  B.  Wild,  Lecturer  on  Materia  Medica  and  Therapeutics  at 
Owens  College  and  the  Victoria  University,  Manchester,  has  kindly 
carried  out  the  experimental  investigation  of  the  comparative 
action  of  emetine  and  cephaeline  upon  certain  tissues  and  organs, 
in  the  pharmacological  laboratory  of  the  Owens  College.  The  re- 
sults obtained  afford  some  information  as  to  the  relative  activity  of 
these  bases  and  give  some  indications  of  their  therapeutic  valued 
The  hydrochlorides  of  the  bases  were  respectively  employed.  It 
was  found  that  emetine  and  cephaeline  both  possess  powerful 
emetic  action  ;  but  the  emetic  dose  of  emetine  was  double  that  of 
cephaeline  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  nausea  produced  by  cephaeline 
1  Pharm.  fourn.,  LXI,  98. 
2  Berichte,  1894,  50. 
3  The  La?icet,  Nov.  23,  1895. 
