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SOLANDRINE, A NEW MIDRIATIC ALKALOID. 



By James M. Petriic, D.Sc, F.LC, Linnean Macleay Fellow 

 OP THE Society in Bio-Chemistry. 



(From the Physiological Laboratory o/ the University of Sydney). 



Solandra Icevis, from which this alkaloid was obtained, is a 

 tropical evergreen shrub of the natural order Solanacese, tr. 

 atropeae, and is indigenous to South America and the West 

 Indies. It grows plentifully in Australia, and used to be quite 

 a common plant in suburban gardens, but of recent years has 

 become scarce. 



Attention was first drawn to the dangerous nature of the sap 

 of Solandra by the following accident. A gardener who, while 

 pruning, had some juice squirted into his eyes, was admitted to 

 a hospital in Sydney suffering from loss of sight. It was found 

 that his pupils were intensely dilated as if by atropine, and the 

 effect was traced to Solandra growing in his garden. 



The property of dilating the pupil of the eye is common to all 

 the tropeines, but this very valuable action is accompanied by 

 other objectionable properties which vary with the different 

 members of the group, and this makes the discovery of a new 

 member of special interest, in the hope that the deleterious 

 qualities may be less or entirely absent. 



The material for this inrestigation was kindly supplied by Mr. 

 Maiden from plants growing in the Botanic Gardens, Sydney. 



First, in order to obtain a general idea of the composition of 

 the leaves, a complete proximate analysis was made by the 

 method of Drasfendortf. 



