( 53 )
partly soluble. From the solution, to which excess of carbonate of soda was
added, by agitation with ether an alkaloid was obtained in the form of colour-
less needlelike crystals. This alkaloid is easily soluble in water, is soluble in
alcohol, more slowly soluble in ether and chloroform. Its physiological action
on frogs resembled that of strychnia, with which, however, it was found not
to be chemically identical. The quantity obtained was so small that elementary
analysis of it was impossible.
This important paper shows therefore that, though Preobraschensky was in
error in supposing he had found nicotine, he had probably obtained some
trace of another alkaloid. As the paper indicates, it would seem to be but one
of several alkaloids present. Like them it is, however, present in quantities
much too small to be of importance physiologically. The name proposed is
t ct
ano-c annabin
In the following year a notice appeared of the treatment by BOMBELIN
of cannabinum tannicum with zinc oxide, giving pur e cannabinum, a greenish-brown
powder not agglutinating on being exposed to the air, and volatilising without
residue. This is said to be somewhat more powerful than cannabinum tannicum.
In December 1884 WARDEN and W ADDELL2 operated on a large quantity
of hemp by means of destructive distillation, so as to reproduce the conditions
that must occur when gánjá is being smoked. They obtained by this method
an amber-coloured oil which contained phenol, ammonia and other products
of this process. Exposure to air or the action of alkalies turned its colour to
dark reddish brown. The oil had a mild tobacco-like odour -with a warm
aromatic taste. The nicotine-like principle in the oil appeared to be an alkaloid.
It formed salts which, when treated with alkalies, had a nicotine-like odour.
Physiologically, however, it was inert, as was the oil itself. This oil is perhaps
not the same as the oil obtained by Bohlig, Personne, and Valenta, but a product
of that oil owing to the high temperature at which it was necessary to distill
the hemp and of a fixed oil of which the extract of hemp is largely composed.
In 1886 KENNEDY3 read before the American Pharmaceutical Association a
paper which confirmed by another method the results of Siebold and Bradbury,
and demonstrated besides that an alkaloid, not nicotine, is present.
In 1887 JAHNS4 separated a base which he identified with choline both
from hemp and from commercial cannabinum tannicum. His results agree
with those of previous investigations, except that the substance does not
behave towards ether or as to crystallization like the substance described by
Hay. In the same year Roux5 s t a t e d o n c e m o r e t h a t t h e a c t i v e p r i n c i p l e o f
hemp lay entirely in the resin, making the further remark that the alcoholic
extract excites while the ethercal is inert. And in the same month appeared a
reference6 w h i c h s e e m s t o i n d i c a t e t h e s u b s t a n c e p r e p a r e d b y M e r c k . T h i s
asserts that haschisch is the alcoholic extract of hemp. As we have seen, the
name "haschisch" is sometimes so applied. When treated with caustic
alkalies all acid ingredients are rendered soluble and removeable; the residu-
um, haschisch purum, is a mixture of a soft resin, cannabinon, and an alkaloid,
tetanin. This combination forms a brown soft resinoid material, insoluble in
water, but making golden yellow solutions in alcohol, ether, chloroform. This
substance is said to be stimulant, and in large doses excitant, ultimately causing
sleep. If from this 'pure haschisch' the t e t a n i n
b e r e m o v e d b y t a n n i c a c i d , t h e
residual cannabinon does not stimulate but is only narcotic. This cannabinon is a
soft brown resin with the physical properties of haschisch purum.
With reference to this article it may be as well to state here that this
cannabinon has more than the physical properties of haschisch purum ; it is the
same thing. When haschisch purum obtained from alcoholic extract by treat-
ment with caustic soda is treated by digestion for hours and with heat with
tannic acid, the substance is the same after as before this is done, and not only is
there no tetanin taken out, there is none to take out. The substance does not
exist—a fortunate circumstance on the whole, as the name had already been
employed to designate a different thing. Moreover, the treatment with caustic
¹ Pharmaceutical Journal,ser ii. vol. 14, p. 966.
² Indian Medical Gazette, D e c . 1 8 8 4 .
³ Pharmaceutical Record v o l 6 , p . 3 0 4 .
4 Archiv. Pharm.(1887). p . 4 7 9 .
5 Journal de Pharmacie et dc Chemie (February 1st, 1887).
6
P
harmaceut. Rundschau, February 1887, quoted in Year-Book of Pharmacy (1887) , p. 247.