THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY, 495 



JMasson's Bryoniyi (in Addenda to Sohu's 

 ** Dictionary of Active Principles of 

 Plants, 1894") has this formula ... .".Og^H^gO^ 



Let it he further noted that Masson's formula 



iov Bryogenini^ ,., ... ... ...Ci^HjgOg 



The foregoing /ormM^os show that the exact, chemical formation of 

 Bryonin is not yet a matter of chemical certainty. 



To proceed further, Dr. Dymock and his colleagues say that, in. 

 addition to Bryonin, they have not been able " to find a second bitter 

 principle," in the tubers of Corallocarpus epigaea. I must here give 

 Dr. Dymock and his colleagues, Dr. "Wardell of Calcutta and 

 Mr. David Hooper of Ootacamund, the fullest credit for their valuable 

 researches. They go far ahead of even a more recent coUaborateur of 

 English repute, Mr. Charles E. Sohn, F.I.C., F.C.S.* Mr. Sohn 

 merely rests content with an observation under the head of Bryonin, 

 that it is a giucoside ; amorphous ; very bitter : yields sugar and 

 Bryonetin^ {N.B. — No formula is given for this, — K.B,.K.) ; that 

 " Bryonin is soluble in water, alcohol (2 to 3 parts) and insoluble 

 in ether ;" and that its precipitants are Tannic acid and Plantinum 

 Chloride.'" In his Addenda Mr. Sohn notes that both Bryonin, 

 and Bryogenin^ as formulated by Masson, are both dextro-rotatory ; 

 that Bryogenin (which, be it noted, is a giucoside. — K. R. K,) dissolves 

 with red colour in concentrated Sulphuric acid, ^* the solution becom- 

 ing purple on heating, and giving, on subsequent addition of water, 

 a purple precipitate." 



That Bryonin is precipitated by Tannic acid was pointed out by 

 Professor Dragendorff of Dorpat (Russia)! on the authority of Conti- 

 nental and American investigators. His formula for Bryonin is 

 C4 8HgoOi8 as noted above. 



It may be useful to quote here, in extenso, sl brief note I have com© 

 across in YoL XXI of the ^' Pharmaceutical Journal," London, 

 (1890-91, p. 496), headed " Constituents of the Root of Bryonia dioica,'^ 

 and embodying, as I may venture to say, the most recent Continental 

 addition to the literature on the active principle of the entire genus 

 known as Bryonia, The note runs as follows : — " A treatise on this 

 ubject has been published at Dorpat by A. Mankowsky. He states 



• Vide Sohn's " Dictionary of the pj.-inciples of Plants, etc.," column 1, p. 23j 1 894, London. 

 t "Plant Analysis," translated from the German by Henry G. Greenish, F.I.O.. London^ 



. '88-),p. ]7C. 

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