386 SOLANACE^E 



thin; friable; the glandular hairs, so thick on the leaves when fresh, are scarcely 

 discernible; short-petiolate ; odor peculiar, heavy, narcotic; taste strong, bit- 

 ter, and acrid. Constituents: Nicotine, CioHuNj, nicotianine (a camphor), 

 bitter extractive, salts, resin, etc. Nicotine is a volatile liquid alkaloid and a 

 virulent poison; there is hardly any of it contained in Turkish tobacco; by 

 heat it is decomposed, yielding various pyridine compounds, hydrocyanic and 

 acetic acids, etc.; these pass off in the smoke; the chief of these compounds 

 are pyridine (in smoke from pipes), collidine (from cigars), lobeline, coniine, 

 piperidine, sparteine, trimethylamine, etc. 



Preparation of Nicotine. Concentrated infusion made with acidulated water 

 is treated with KOH and shaken with ether. The ethereal solution is precipi- 

 tated with oxalic acid; the oxalate of the alkaloid thus precipitated is dissolved 

 in boiling alcohol; evaporate to a syrup, agitate with ether, and make alkaline with 

 KOH. On fractional distillation the colorless, oily alkaloid remains. It is very 

 unstable. 



Narcotic, sedative, diuretic, and emetic. It is rarely used in medicine. 

 Dose: Yi to 2 gr. (0.0324 to 0.13 Gm.). Oil of tobacco is a pharmaceutical 

 product, official in the U.S. P. in 1870, obtained by destructive distillation 

 of coarsely powdered tobacco; it is a tarry liquid of offensive odor. Con- 

 siderable oil is obtained by distilling the leaves with water. It contains 

 nicotine (a dark, oily liquid). 



512. DUBOISIA. DUBOISIA. The leaves of Duboi'sia myoporoi'des R. Brown, 

 a tall Australian shrub or small tree. The medicinal qualities of the leaves 

 make the plant related to hyoscyamus and other narcotic plants of this order 

 Lanceolate, 75 to 100 mm. (3 to 4 in.) long and 12 to 25 mm. (J^ to I in.) 

 broad, tapering below into a short petiole; midrib prominent; margin entire; 

 they are generally seen, however, in broken fragments of a brownish-green 

 color; inodorous; taste bitter. They contain duboisine (a mixture of hyoscy- 

 amine and atropine), and their action is, therefore, nearly identical with 

 that of belladonna, except that they are less of a cerebral excitant and more 

 calmative and hypnotic. 



513. PICHI. The stems and leafy branches of a Chilian shrub, Fabia'na imbri- 

 ca'ta Ruiz et Pavon. A terebinthinate diuretic, used in gravel, cystitis, and 

 diseases of the genito-urinary tract when the kidneys are not inflamed. Dose 

 of fluidextract: 30 njj (2 mils). 



514. DULCAMARA, N.F. BITTERSWEET. WOODY NIGHTSHADE. The young 

 branches of Sola'num dulcama'ra Linne. Off. U.S.P. 1890. Very small 

 cylindrical pieces (branches cut in sections) about the thickness of a quill; 

 externally longitudinally striate and marked with alternate leaf-scars; peri- 

 derm light greenish-brown or greenish-gray, thin, overlaying a uniformly 

 green, rather thick, inner bark. Wood whitish or yellow, with greenish 

 spots, surrounding a central pith, or, as is generally the case, a hollow; it 

 is in one or two circles, with large ducts and numerous one-rowed medullary 

 rays. The bark consists principally of parenchymatous tissue. Inodorous; 

 taste at first bitter, afterward sweet. Constituents: Solanine, the active alka- 

 loid, and a glucoside termed dulcamarin, CwVLziOio, to which the taste of the 

 drug is due; also resin, wax, gum, starch, and calcium lactate. Commercial 

 Solanin is a mixture of Solanin and Solanidin. Solanidin is soluble in alco- 

 hol. Solanin is practically insoluble, excepting in boiling alcohol. 



Preparation of Dulcamarin. Digest aqueous infusion of the drug with animal 

 charcoal; treat charcoal with alcohol. Precipitate aqueous solution of alcoholic 

 extract with lead subacetate, wash, digest with alcohol, and decompose with EUS. 

 Evaporate resulting solution. Purify product by resolution, filtration and 

 evaporation. 



Dulcamara is feebly narcotic and anodyne, but is chiefly employed as 

 an alterative and re'solvent in skin diseases, particularly those of a scaly 

 character. Dose: I to 2 dr. (4 to 8 Gm.). 



Extractum Dulcamaras Fluidum, U.S. 



P. 1890 Dose: I to 2 fl. dr. (4 to 8 mils). 



