THE EXTRACTION OF A SUBSTANCE FOR SUPPLYING THE PLACE OF QUININE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Castets, Manufacturer, of Paris, in the
French Empire, for the Invention of "THE EXTRACTION OF A SUBSTANCE
FOR SUPPLYING THE PLACE OF QUININE."
Sealed the 19th January 1855, and dated the 24th July 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Castets at the
Office of the Commissioners of.Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
July 1854.
I, AUGUSTE CASTETS, Manufacturer, of Paris, in the French Empire, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "THE EXTRACTION OF A SUB-
STANCE FOR SUPPLYING THE PLACE OF QUININE" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in submitting the seeds of the plant called cumin to
processes similar to those employed to obtain quinine from cinchona.bark, by
which means I obtain a substance having properties similar to and which may
be used as a substitute for quinine.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Auguste Castets in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
CASTETS, Manufacturer, of Paris, in the French Empire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Auguste Castets, Her special licence that I, the said Auguste Castets,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Auguste Castets, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "THE EXTRACTION
OF A SUBSTANCE FOR SUPPLYING THE PLACE OF QUININE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Augusto Castets, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Auguste Castets, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
This Invention consists in submitting the seeds of the plant called cumin
to processes similar to those employed to obtain quinine from cinchona bark, by
which means I obtain a substance having properties similar to and which may
be used as a substitute for quinine.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the process which I prefer
to employ.
1°. To prepare the artificial quinine, the cumin seed is extracted with
boiling water, and the solution is concentrated and litharge is added until
the liquid no longer presents an acid reaction; then the oxide of lead is
partially precipitated by sulphuric acid.

page_text: 2°. The filtered liquid evaporated to dryness leavs a brown viscous deposit,
which contains the impure cumine and extractive matters. This deposit is
treated with alcohol, which dissolves more than half of it.
3°. The alcoholic solution is evaporated to dryness, the precipitate is re-
dissolved in distilled water, and the aqueous solution is treated with acid
(sulphuric or hydrochloric), and ammonia is added in excess, which decomposes
the soluble salt and precipitates the pure cumin or artificial quinine.
4°. This pure base is again treated with sulphuric acid, evaporated, and a
crystallized sulphate obtained.
5°. To employ profitably the other half which is not dissolved by the alcohol
(sce Art. 2). It is treated with sulphuric acid and evaporated; the sulphate is
obtained. Or, to obtain a purer article, after having treated it with acid, the
soluble salt is decomposed by ammonia in excess, so that the pure base which
is precipitated may be treated according to 4°.
To obtain the base or the sulphate very pure it should be submitted to
several successive crystallizations.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Castets, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
AUGUSTE CASTETS. (L.s.)
Witness,
CHI. ARMENGAUD,
Paris, le 20 Janvier 1855.
Ing" Civil,
Rue Fills du Calvarie, 6,
á Paris.