4i8 
Indian  Drugs, 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
Aug.,  1880. 
soon  partially  deliquesces,  leaving  on  the  surface  of  the  paper  scarcely 
hygrometric  crystals,  consisting  of  sulphate  of  pelletierine.  The  salt 
which  penetrates  the  paper,  and  which,  if  care  be  taken  at  the  time  to 
prevent  its  exposure  to  the  air,  has  no .  rotatory  power,  is  the  sulphate 
of  isopelletierine. 
The  pure  alkaloid  is  obtained  by  the  same  process  as  methylpelletie- 
rine,  the  precaution  being  used  of  distilling  at  a  low  pressure,  ebullition 
at  the  ordinary  temperature  altering  it  rapidly. 
Pelletierine  is  a  liquid  and  colorless  alkaloid  when  just  obtained  in  a 
current  of  hydrogen,  but  it  is  remarkable  for  the  rapidity  with  which 
it  absorbs  oxygen  and  resinifies.  Its  density  at  zero  is  O'qSS.  Analy- 
ses of  its  chloroplatinate  and  hydrochlorate  lead  the  author  to  assign  to 
it  the  formula  CjgH3QN202.  The  alkaloid  is  soluble  in  the  cold  in 
twenty  times  its  weight  of  water,  of  which  it  dissolves  its  own  weight. 
It  is  soluble  in  all  proportions  of  ether,  alcohol  and  chloroform.  At 
the  ordinary  pressure  it  boils  at  I95°C.,  distilling  then  with  -partial 
decomposition.  Under  a  pressure  of  10  centimeters  the  boiling  point 
is  lowered  to  I25°C. 
Sulphate  of  pelletierine  has  a  rotary  power  of  0.^  =  —  30°.  If  the 
free  alkaloid  be  heated  to  100°  the  rotatory  power  disappears. 
Salts  of  pelletierine  lose  a  portion  of  the  base  when  heated  either 
dry  or  in  solution. 
Isopelletierine  is  isolated  in  the  manner  just  described.  It  is  a  liquid 
alkaloid,  without  action  upon  polarized  light.  .  Analysis  of  the  hydro- 
chlorate  gave  results  corresponding  to  the  same  formula  as  pelletierine, 
of  which  it  may  be  considered  an  isomer.  Its  density,  solubility  in 
water  and  boiling  point  are  the  same  as  those  of  pelletierine. — Pharm, 
Jour,  and  Trans. April  17,  1880. 
NOTES  ON  INDIAN  DRUGS. 
By  W.  Dymock. 
Curcuma  Sp. Amomace^.  The  rhizome.  Vernacular:  Ambe- 
HALDi,  Jangli-haldi  (Hind.,  Beng  ,  Bomb.) ;  Kasturi-manjal 
(Tarn.)  }    Kattu-mannar  (Malay)  } 
History^  Uses.,  etc. — This  rhizome  is  the  zedoaire  jaune  of  Guibourt, 
who  tells  us  that  the  plant  which  produces  it  has  been  well  described 
and  figured  by  Rumphius.  It  is  his  Tommon  bezaar  or  Tommon  primum., 
which  has  been  wrongly  referred  by  most  writers  to  the  Curcuma 
