THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JUGUST,  1880. 
THE  THALLEIOQUIN  TEST. 
By  Charles  Frederick  Zeller. 
[From  an  Inaugural  Essay.) 
This  test,  which  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  alkaloidal  tests, 
was  accidentally  discovered  by  M.  J.  J.  Andre,  in  1835.  He  pre- 
sented a  memoir^  to  the  College  of  Pharmacy  of  Paris,  On  the  Action 
of  Acid  on  Quinia,  in  which  he  endeavors  to  explain  the  cause  of  the 
fluorescence  of  quinia  solutions,  and  then  the  action  of  chlorine  on 
these  solutions.  He  considered  quinia  to  be  a  sort  of  resinate  of 
ammonia,  and  in  attempting  to  precipitate  the  resin,  which  he  supposed 
to  have  been  acted  upon  by  the  chlorine,  by  means  of  water  of 
ammonia,  he  obtained  a  green  precipitate,  which  was  immediately 
redissolved  by  the  liquid,  and  communicated  to  it  a  rich  emerald 
color. 
The  name  was  probably  derived  from  the  Greek  word  "  Thallos,'* 
meaning  green,  and  quinia  or  chinin,  the  English  and  German  words 
indicating  the  source  from  which  obtained.  As  this  action  of  chlorine 
water  and  ammonia  upon  quinia  had  often  been  spoken  of  on  account 
of  its  extreme  delicacy,  and  also  of  the  influence  of  the  presence  of 
hydrochloric  acid  upon  the  delicacy  of  the  test,  the  following  experi- 
ments were  entered  into  to  determine  these  points.  As  both  quinia  and 
quinidia  are  similarly  acted  upon,  solutions  of  both  were  used. 
A.  Solution  of  Sulphate  of  ^inia  and  fresh  Chlorine  Water. 
1.  Solution  of  sulphate  of  quinia  (i  in  1,000)  100  grains,  chlorine  water 
25  drops  =  23  grains,  liquor  ammonia  i  drop  =  '8  grain,  produced  green 
color  at  once. 
2.  Solution  of  sulphate  of  quinia  100  grains,  chlorine  water  1 5  drops, 
dilute  ammonia  i  drop,  produced  first  a  green  color,  then,  by  carefully 
'  *'Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1836,  p.  212. 
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