IGi APrENDIX^ 



preparod at Market Deeping, in Lincolnshire, An extract of that 

 variety of the cultivated plant known as Cos lettuce was also 

 examined. They all contained an alkaloid which had a very marked 

 power of dilating the pupil of the eye. Finally, a dried specimen of 



wild lettuce, collected when in flower, was examined. It contained 



a mydriatic alkaloid. 



TIic impure alkaloid obtained from the extract was a light brown 

 syrup, which possessed powerful mydriatic properties. In order to 

 purify it, it was converted into the oxalate. The alkaloid recovered 

 from the pure oxalate, when crystallized from chloroform, closely 

 resembled hyoscyamine, both in appearance and in melting point. 

 The aurochloridc was then produced by the usual methods, and this, 

 after rccrystallization, was obtained in the shining flat needles 

 characteristic of the aurochloridc of hyoscyamine. The estimation of 

 the gold and the base in this compound showed that the alkaloid was 

 one of three isomeric mydriatic alkaloids, having the formuLi 

 O'-II^^NO^ while its molting point was 159-75° (corr.), and closely 

 corresponded with that ascribed by Ladenburg to the aurochloridc of 

 hyoscyamine. The plant does not appear to contain a second 

 mydriatic alkaloid, although it must be remembered that only small 

 quantities of material were operated upon. 



The author bag just shown that both wild and cultivated varieties 

 of lettuce, especially when the flowering stage is reached, contain 

 hyoscyamine, the mydriatic alkaloid occurring in Uyoscyamus niger^ 

 Atropa Belladonyia, and other plants belonging to the natural order 

 SolanacecBy and it is probable that to the presence of this alkaloid the 

 sedative and anodyne properties of extract of lettuce arc duo. 



That this important constituent has been until now overlooked is 

 probably due to the fact that in chemical investigations upon lettuce 

 the dried milk sap, lactucarium, has alone been examined, although 

 its value as a sedative and anodyne is by no means established. The 

 author found that lactucarium of both English and German manu- 

 facture was devoid of mydriatic properties and contained no alkaloi*-^ 



whatever. 



rreat 



importance in connection with its u^c as a vegetable, since it is only 

 used for this purpose in the early stages of its growth, boforo the 

 bitter milk has been producud, when the hyoscya mine is only present, 

 if at uU, in juinutc quantities. The amount of mydriatic alkaloid in 



