had no more effect upon the ipecacuanha, it was treated with cold water, the water became mucilaginous, and by evaporation a grey substance was obtained, which, by means of alcohol, became white, at the same time that a quantity of the emetic matter was separated from it. The white substance that was left seemed to be a pure gum; by means of the nitric acid it furnished oxalic and mucous acids. What was then left was the ligneous matter combined with a quantity of starch; these two substances were very closely united together, so that there was some difficulty in separating them. The presence of the starch was indicated by the effect of iodine upon it, which instantly produced a beautiful blue colour when added to the fluid containing it. The mean results of a number of experiments gave the following proportions for the constituents of the cortical part.

The following is the analysis of the internal woody matter:

The extractive matter, indicated in this last analysis as not being emetic, seems exactly to resemble the common extracts procured from woody substances in general; it may be separated from the emetic extract by the gallic acid, which does not act upon the common extract, while it forms with the emetic extract a very copious precipitate.

The authors then proceed to examine more particularly the properties of the fatty matter and the emetic matter. The fatty matter, which is separated from ipecacuanha by means of ether, is of a beautiful brownish yellow colour, and communicates to

alcohol and to ether a bright golden hue; it has the hot and acrid flavour of an essential oil, and contains the substance which gives ipecacuanha its specific odour. By heating or distilling it with water, it may be separated into two parts, one a more volatile odoriferous oil, the other a more fixed oil, which has generally been regarded as a resin.

To obtain the emetic matter in its most pure state, the following process may be employed. The ipecacuanha in powder is to be treated with sulphuric ether, until all the fatty matter is dissolved; then alcohol is to be digested on it, the tincture is to be evaporated on the water-bath, and the residue redissolved in cold water, by which the wax is separated; it is then to be macerated on carbonate of barytes to remove the gallic acid, again dissolved in alcohol, and evaporated. The emetic matter when dried is in the form of transparent scales of a reddishbrown colour; it has scarcely any odour; a bitter taste, slightly acrid, but not nauseous; it is decomposed by a heat greater than that of boiling water; no ammonia is produced from it by distillation, thus proving that it contains no azote; it deliquesces in the atmosphere; it is dissolved by water in all proportions without experiencing any change; it is not capable of being crystallized. It is decomposed by concentrated sulphuric acid; nitric acid dissolves it, and has its colour changed to a deep red, afterwards it becomes yellow, a large quantity of nitrous gas is disengaged, oxalic acid is formed, but none of the bitter yellow matter. The gallic acid precipitates it from its solution either in alcohol or in water; the alkalies when they are concentrated seem to change its nature and properties, but the substance which of all others appears to have the most powerful effect upon it is the sub-acetate of lead; it precipitates it completely from all its solutions. The authors conclude from all their experiments, that the emetic matter is a substance sui generis, possessed of peculiar and specific properties; they conceive it to be an immediate principle of vegetables, which is found in plants that belong to different families, and appears to possess the same properties in all cases. From its distinguishing property, they propose to give it the name of emetine.

We have afterwards the analysis of the callicocca ipecacuanha, which is as follows:

The following is given as the analysis of the viola emetica;

In the second part of the paper, the authors give an account of a number of experiments which were performed, first on brutes, and afterwards on the human subject, in order to ascertain the physiological and medical properties of the fatty matter and the emetine, the only constituents which appeared likely, from their sensible properties, to possess any active virtues. It did not appear that the fatty matter had any particular operation upon the stomach, whereas the emetine was found to act very powerfully. We shall omit the detail of these experiments, and shall conclude this abstract by quoting the three general propositions which the authors lay down as the result of their observations.

1. There exists in the three species of ipecacuanha which are the most used, a peculiar substance which we have called emetine, and to which these roots owe their medical properties. 2. This substance is emetic and purgative, and it has a special action upon the lungs and upon the mucous membrane of the intestinal canal, it has besides a well-marked narcotic quality. 3. Emetine may be substituted for ipecacuanha in all cases where we employ this medicine, and with the more advantage as this substance in a determined dose has always constant properties, which is not the case with the different species of ipecacuanha that are met with in commerce, and it has also the further advantage of having very little taste, and scarcely any odour.

ARTICLE V.

Analytical Researches on Bitter Almonds. By M. Vogel.*

THE almonds were immersed in hot water for a very short time, in order to remove the brown powder and the cuticle with which they are covered. These parts were found to consist of a membranous tissue, containing a portion of tan and fat oil. The almonds were then subjected to strong pressure, so as to extract

*M. Vogel's paper was read to the Munich Academy in July, 1814: an extract from it was printed in the Journ, Pharm, for Aug. 1817, of which the above is an abridgment.

all their oil from them; the oil obtained in this way does not differ from that of the sweet almond. The cake left after the pressure was distilled with water in a large retort; the distilled water reddened litmus, and after being saturated by ammonia forms prussian blue with sulphate of iron; a quantity of a yellowish transparent oil was also obtained, which sunk to the bottom of the vessel. The residue in the retort was found to contain both saccharine matter and gum; and when it was freed from a portion of oil which still adhered to it, and from all soluble matter, it was found to exhibit the properties of animal cheese, being a chemical combination of oil and albumen. When an almond emulsion is made with cold water, a fluid is procured which is almost precisely similar to animal milk; it coagulates by acids, by alcohol, by the electric spark, and by heat; a cream separates from it, which may be converted into a species of butter; and the emulsion, after the separation of its coagulum, resembles the whey of milk. M. Vogel found that the emulsions of a variety of seeds, and also of different kinds of nuts, was of the same nature with that of the almond, and almost exactly resembled animal milk.

The essential oil obtained by distillation possesses some remarkable properties. When the water is taken from it as much as possible it loses its fluidity, assumes a waxy consistence, and finally crystallizes in the form of plates and needles. When the oil is kept in a fluid state under water, after some days it becomes opaque and solid, and after an interval of some weeks it entirely disappears. The oil burns with a very brilliant flame; it is partially dissolved by potash, and also in some degree by ammonia. When it is exposed to the air in small quantities, it is very shortly converted into a crystalline, semi-transparent mass; these crystals are soluble in alcohol and in ether. By this change it nearly loses its inflammability; it melts when sufficiently heated, and again resumes the crystalline form; its sensible properties are likewise much affected. When the oil passes to the crystallized state, it absorbs oxygen. Dr. Sommering, son of the Professor of the same name, gave portions of the essential oil, as well as of the distilled water of bitter almonds, to dogs, and it proved fatal in all cases. Where the dose was large, the animals fell down dead instantly, as if they had been struck with lightning; the others perished in a few minutes. The doses are not stated which were employed by Dr. Sæmmering. Notwithstanding this poisonous property of both the oil and the distilled water of bitter almonds, we are informed that Dr. Horn, of Berlin, administered to fever patients in "La Charité" six drams of bitter almonds daily, in the form of an emulsion. In this case it is conjectured that the oil and prussic acid were so modified by the other ingredients as to have had their deleterious quality much diminished or entirely

counteracted.

From these and other facts which were ascertained by M. Vogel, he drows the following conclusions.

That 100 parts of bitter almonds contain the following ingredients:

Envelope.
Fat oil.

Caseous matter

8.5

28.0

30.0

6.5

3.0

5.0

That the emulsion of bitter almonds has a very great analogy with animal milk; that many seeds and fruits, besides almonds, contain the same caseous matter; that the emulsions are coagulable by acids, alcohol, heat, and electricity; that the bitterness of the almond resides principally in its volatile parts, i. e. the prussic acid and the essential oil; that the essential oil may be obtained separate from the prussic acid, and that it will communicate to water the odour and taste of prussic acid, without giving it the property of forming prussian blue with iron; that the essential oil rectified with barytes, lime, or the red oxide of mercury loses its fluidity by the contact of the air, and gradually assumes the state of white crystals, which are almost without smell, and less volatile than the fluid oil.

We have subjoined M. Boullay's analysis of the sweet almond, both as a confirmation of M. Vogel's very interesting analysis, and in order that the clear priority of discovery, that the emulsive seeds contain not starch but albumen, may remain with M. Vogel.-ED.

Analysis of the Sweet Almond (Amygdalus Communis). By M, Boullay.

The almonds were first exposed to a heat of about 120° of Fahrenheit during a space of three days, in order to drive off any water which they might contain. They were then immersed in hot water for the purpose of detaching the cuticle, and afterwards made into an emulsion with water. The emulsion, by standing for some time, threw up a cream to the surface and deposited a residuum; these, as well as the fluid itself, were all separately examined. The cream was a compound of oil and a coagulable matter; the same kind of coagulum was obtained from the fluid part, and principally composed the residuum; these coagula were both mixed with portions of the oil. When

* Abridged from Journ. Pharm. Aug. 1817: the same paper is likewise inserted in Ann. Chim. Dec. 1817.