Excerpt from The Vegetable Alkaloids: With Particular Reference to Their Chemical Constitution Since the appearance in 1897 of the second edition of Prof. Ame Pictet's work, La Constitution Chimique des Alcaloides Vegetaux, marked advances have been made in our kwledge of the alkaloids. The chemistry of xanthine, caffeine, theobromine, etc., has attained a certain completeness of development in the recognition of their common relation to purine and in the synthesis of the latter. The constitution of nicotine has been established by its synthesis and three new alkaloids have been isolated from the tobacco-plant (Pictet). Our conceptions regarding the jaborandi alkaloids have been completely revolutionized. The extensive investigations of Ladenburg, Merling, and Willstatter have been brought to a brilliant conclusion in the complete synthesis of atropine, atropamine, belladonnine, inactive cocaine, and tropa-cocaine. Our kwledge regarding the constitution of morphine and codeine has been so far increased that probably within a short time the synthesis of these two alkaloids will be realized. These advances have precluded a simple translation of the French edition and have necessitated the complete rewriting of several chapters and the revision of the entire work. It is believed that the present English edition fairly sets forth the latest conceptions regarding the constitution of the more important vegetable alkaloids. It may be ted that Prof. Pictet's work on the alkaloids was rendered into German in 1900 by Wolffenstein and that a Russian edition is in process of preparation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art techlogy to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.