Chemistry of resinous gums, dyes, alkaloids, and active principles—contributions of Pelletier and others in the nineteenth century

The 19th century showed a concerted effort to try to analyze many of the active principles contained in vegetable and animal sources being brought to Europe from the Far East and the New World. These efforts set the basis of many substances of great importance used today in medical and industrial applications. Pioneering work was done in the identification and analysis of alkaloids, such as quinine, narceine, paramorphine, strychnine, emetine, brucine, and veratrine, animal materials such as cochineal and ambergris, as well as in their chemistry. Many of the salifiable bases were found to contain nitrogen, chlorophyll was studied in detail, and the poisonous principles of many plants were isolated. Pierre Joseph Pelletier (1788-1842) was probably the chemist most associated with these discoveries.