126 SOME POISONOUS PLANTS IN N.O. SOLANACE^, iv., 



crushed, and placed in a distillation flask fitted with a spray- 

 trap. Lime or soda in excess was added, and the whole mass 

 distilled in a current of steam for five or six hours. The 

 ammoniacal distillate was neutralised with acid and concentrated 

 on the water-bath to small volume. The remaining fluid was 

 shaken out, first with ether in presence of acid, then with chloro- 

 form after making alkaline. The chloroform was carefully 

 washed and dried, and distilled to remove the solvent. The 

 residue was then weighed and titrated. 



Material was obtained from the Sydney Botanic Gardens, the 

 National Park, the North Coast district of New South Wales, 

 and from Queensland. The plants were collected at different 

 seasons throughout the year. 



Results : — The ether extracts contained a volatile essential oil 

 of most disagreeable odour. 



From eleven separate distillations of the above material, there 

 was obtained, on evaporating the chloroform extract, a small 

 residue, which contained alkaloid in every case. The amounts 

 roughly correspond to 1-2 mgs. per hour of distillation. 



XV. Composition of the volatilised substance : — 



(a) Titration, with centinormal solutions and iodeosin in- 

 dicator, showed that each of these residues left on evaporation 

 of the chloroform, consisted of about half its weight of an 

 alkaloid. 



(b) The residues were yellowish-brown syrups. They were 

 dissolved in a little acidulated water, and the following tests 

 applied. The solutions possessed an intensely bitter taste, and 

 alkaline reaction to litmus. 



(c) The general reagents for alkaloids, viz., Wagner's, 

 Mayer's, and Sonnenschein's solutions, picric, tannic, and phos- 

 pho-tungstic acids all gave dense precipitates with the solution. 

 The substance, therefore, contained an alkaloid. 



(d) The specific tests for the identification of the known 

 volatile alkaloids, such as nicotine, in all cases gave negative 

 results. 



(e) Vitali's test gave a brilliant red colour, which indicated 

 the presence of an alkaloid of the atropine group. 



