STIPES DULCAMARA. 4o] 



calcium, not of a well-defined outline, and minute starch granules are 



deposited. 



Chemical Composition — The taste of bitter-sweet appears due, 

 according to Schoonbroodt (1867), to a bitter principle yielding by de- 

 composition, sugar and Sohmine, — the latter in very small amount. 

 Solanine is an alkaloid; it was first prepared in 1820 by Desfosses, a 

 pharmacien at Besan9on, from the berries of Solanum nigi'uin L., and 

 was subsequently detected by the same chemist in the leaves and stalks 

 of S. Dulcamara, and by Peschier in the berries. Winckler (1841) 

 observed that the alkaloid of dulcamara stems can be obtained only in 

 an amorphous state, and that it behaves to platinic and mercuric 

 chlorides difierently from the solanine of potatoes. Moitessier (1856) 

 confirmed this observation, and obtained only amorphous salts of the 

 solanine of bitter-sweet. 



Zwenger and Kind on the one hand, and O. Gmelin on the other 

 (1859 and 1858), found that solanine, C'H^'NO'* (or C^H^NO", accord- 

 ing to Hilger, 1879), is a conjugated compound of sugar and a peculiar 

 crystallizable alkaloid, Solanidme, C-^H^NO (or C^^H'^NO^O- The 

 latter, under the influence of strong hydrochloric acid, gives up water, 

 and is converted into the amorphous and likewise basic compound, 

 Solanicine. 



Wittstein (1852) stated another alkaloid, dulcamarine, to be present 

 in the stems of bitter-sweet. But Geissler (1875j proved that this 

 substance, when perfectly pure, contains no nitrogen, and is not an 

 alkaloid. Geissler obtained his Didcamarin by warming an aqueous 

 decoction of the drug with charcoal, which he dried and exhausted with 

 boiling alcohol. This on evaporation aflforded a yellowish amorphous 

 matter, which was dissolved in water and mixed with a very little 

 ammonia; a substance containing nitrogen then separated. The liquid 

 was evaporated, the residue again dissolved in alcohol, and the alcohol 

 distilled. Dulcamarin thus obtained is a yellowish powder of at first 

 bitter and subsequently permanently sweet taste. It dissolves in water 

 or alcohol, not in ether, chloroform, bisulphide of carbon. By boiling 

 dulcamarin with dilute acids it splits up according to the following 

 equation: — 



C22H34O10 + 2 OB} = C^ff^Qe Ql^^MQQ 

 Dulcamarin. Sugar. Dulcamaretin. 



Dulcamaretin, a dark-brown, tasteless mass, is soluble in alcohol, not in 

 water or ether. 



Uses — Dulcamara is occasionally given in the form of decoction, in 

 rheumatic or cutaneous affections; but its real action, according to 

 Garrod, is unknown. This physician remarks^ that it does not dilate 

 the pupil or produce dryne&s of the throat like belladonna, henbane or 

 stramonium. He has given to a patient 3 pints of the decoction per 

 di€7)i without any marked action, and has also administered as much as 

 half a pound of the fresh berries with no ill effect. 



^ Essentials of Materia Medica, 1855. 196. 



