SOLANACEA. 569 
Was left as an amorphous substance from its solution in ether, but 
‘gave crystals when neutralized with sulphuric or hydrochloric 
acid, It had a bitter taste, was not coloured with nitric acid, 
but with sulphuric acid and alcohol it imparted a red colour 
similar to that produced by.solanine. A solution of the neutral 
acetate of the alkaloid was found to have no action upon the eye. 
A fatty.and colouring matter were also .present in the root; 
the latter was resinoid, and the alkaloid was combined with an. 
astringent acid. The leaves afforded 19°5 per cent. of ash, and 
a trace of alkaloid was detected in them. 
Toxicology.—Dr. Burton Brown (Punjab Poisons) records a 
fatal case of poisoning by the seeds of this plant. The 
_ Symptoms observed were vomiting, insensibility, convulsions ; 
the patient became unconscious with dilated pupils insensible 
_ to light; there were continued tetanic spasms of the muscles of 
the face and extremities, tongue not bitten, no lockjaw, face 
and lips livid, veins distended. . 
WITHANIA COAGULANS, Duna. 
Fig.—Wight Ic., 4. 1616; Stocks in Hook. Ics, ¢. 801, — 
Hab. — Punjab, Sind, Afghanistan. The frnit. 
-Vernacular.—Panirband, Panir-ja-fota (Sind.), Khamjaria. 
(Punjab), Spin-bajja (Afghan), Akri (Hind.), Kakanaj 
(Bomb.). : 
History, Uses, &c.—A small, rigid, grey undershrub,, 
the fruit of which is commonly used in Sind, N.-W. India and 
Afghanistan to coagulate milk instead of rennet; the natives of ; 
those countries rub up a few of the fruits with a small quantity 
of milk and add this to the milk to be coagulated. This useful 
_ plant appears to have attracted little notice until 1849, when it» 
was described by Dr. Stocks (Journ. Bomb. Asiat. Soc., 1849, 
55). The fruit is also used as an emetic, and smaller doses 
as a remedy for dyspepsia arising from chronic liver disease ; ihe 
is alterative and diuretic, In Bombay it is usually confounded” 
72 
