334 J. C. Marquart's Report of the Progress of Pht/lochemistry 



Chemists, it is true, distinguish the alkaloids from the henbane, 

 the deadly nightshade, and the thorn-apple ; they appear to us 

 however so nearly related to each other, that their difference 

 consists in their greater or less degree of purity. One might de- 

 signate them as the bases from the Solaneae if the genus Sola- 

 tium did not contain an alkaloid differing from them, and which 

 is principally distinguished from the above by the circumstance, 

 that it causes no dilatation of the pupil, which property belongs 

 to the former in a very high degree. The history of the alkaloids 

 obtained from the genus Solatium seems to us yet to be rather 

 in darkness : for the bases from the above-named genera pos- 

 sessing the property of dilating the pupil, a name should be 

 chosen, from one of them. They are contained in all parts of 

 the plants combined with an acid. In their pure state they are 

 colourless transparent prisms with a silky lustre, void of smell, 

 not volatile, and melting at S0° Reaum. A characteristic pro- 

 perty for all three is that they lose their property of crystal- 

 lizing when in contact with water, and then take the narcotic 

 smell of the plants. They may however be reduced to a cry- 

 stalline state by employing the same method as in their first 

 preparation. They combine with acids forming neutral cry- 

 stalline salts, and exhibit, especially towards tannin, an ex- 

 traordinary affinity, as their solutions gelatinize with tincture 

 of galls. We know their elementary composition from the 

 base of the Atropa Belladonna ; it consists of Cg4 H 23 O fi 

 N, ; and the elementary analysis of daturia and hyoscyamia 

 will shortly show whether our supposition above is sufficiently 

 confirmed. 



Geiger and Hesse* also separated from the seeds of Col - 

 chicum autumnale an alkaloid in a condition which showed its 

 nature better. It was formerly considered identical with the 

 base from the genus Verafrum, from which it however differs 

 in some degree. Its taste is irritating, but not sharply caustic 

 like veratria, and it does not cause any sneezing. By neutral- 

 ization with acids it forms in part crystalline salts. 



The aconita of the older chemists must also be struck out, 

 according to the recent preparations of Hesse f, who found in 

 the leaves of Aconitum Napcllus a bitter highly poisonous 

 but not acrid basis, which, in its purest state, forms white 

 granules or transparent masses with a glassy lustre, which dis- 

 solves easily in alcohol and aether, but with more difficulty in 

 water. The salts formed by this base with acids were not 

 crystalline. 



The alkaloid discovered by Lancelot in the leaves of Digi- 



* Geiger and Liebig's Annalen, vol. vii. p. 261). f Ibid. 



