BERBERINE

berberine, c20h17no4, an alkaloid occurring together with the alkaloids oxyacanthine c18h19no3, berbamine c18h19no3, hydrastine c21h21no6, and canadine c20h21no4, in _berberis vulgaris_; it also occurs in other plants, _berberis aristata, b. aquifolium, hydrastis canadensis_, &c. it is a yellow, crystalline solid, insoluble in ether and chloroform, soluble in 4-1/2 parts of water at 21 deg., and moderately soluble in alcohol. it is a monacid base; the hydrochloride, c20h17no4.hcl, is insoluble in cold alcohol, ether and chloroform, and soluble in 500 parts of water; the acid sulphate, c20h17no4.h2so4 dissolves in about 100 parts of water. canadine is a tetrahydroberberine. its constitution was worked out by w.h. perkin (_j.c.s._, 1889, 55, p. 63; 1890, 57, p. 991). this followed from a study of the decomposition products, there being obtained hemipinic acid (ch3o)2c6h2(cooh)2, and a substance which proved to be [omega]-amino-ethyl-piperonyl carboxylic acid, ch2o2:c6h2.cooh.ch2.ch2nh2. his formula was modified by gadamer (_abs. j.c.s._, 1902, 1, p. 555), who made the free base an aldehyde, but the salts of an _iso_-quinolinium type. this formula, which necessitates the presence of two asymmetric carbon atoms in an alkyl tetrahydroberberine, has been accepted by m. freund and f. mayer (_abs. j.c.s._, 1907, 1, p. 632), who showed that two racemic propyl tetrahydroberberines are produced when propyl dihydroberberine is reduced. berbers, ethnology. the name under which are included the various branches of the indigenous "libyan" race of north africa. since the dawn of history the berbers have occupied the tract between the mediterranean and the sahara from egypt to the atlantic. the origin of the name is doubtful. some believe it to be derived from the word [greek: barbaroi] (barbarians), employed first by the greeks and later by the romans. others attribute the first use of the term to the arab conquerors. however this may be, tribal titles, _barabara_ and _beraberata_, appear in egyptian inscriptions of 1700 and 1300 b.c., and the berbers were probably intimately related with the egyptians in very early times. thus the true ethnical name may have become confused with _barbari_, the designation naturally used by classical conquerors. to the egyptians they were known as "lebu," "mashuasha," "tamahu," "tehennu" and "kahaka"; a long list of names is found in herodotus, and the romans called them numidae, gaetuli and mauri, terms which have been derived respectively from the greek [greek: nomades] (nomads), the name gued'oula, of a great berber tribe, and the hebrew _mahur_ (western). to speak of more modern times there can be enumerated the zouaoua and jebalia (tripoli and tunisia); the chauwia, kabyles and beni-mzab (algeria); the shluh (chlouah), amazigh and berbers (morocco); the tuareg, arnoshagh, sorgu, &c. (sahara). these tribes have many sub-tribes, each with a distinctive name. among the azgar, an important division of the tuareg, one of the noble or free tribes, styled aouraghen, is said to descend from a tribe named avrigha. the avrigha, or afrigha, in ancient times occupied the coast lands near carthage, and some scholars derive the word africa from their name (see