38 
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS SECTION B. 
Gentianece. — The pretty pink-flowered Native Centaury, found 
in grass-lands abundantly in all the colonies, is Erythrcea australis , 
R. Br., considered by Bentham and Mueller to be identical with the 
European E. spicata , Pers. Considering the natural order to which it 
belongs, its bitterness is not a matter of surprise. Of all native plants 
it is one of the most universally used for liver complaints, diarrhoea, 
&c. ; and it is not generally known (if I may so assume from the 
inquiries that have been addressed to me) that it has been chemically 
examined by Mebu* and other chemists. It contains a glucoside, to 
which the name of erythrocentauriu has been given. 
Solanece. — Dr. T. L. Bancroft has shown that an extract of the 
leaves of Solanum aviculare, Forst., does not dilate the pupil, but is 
poisonous, probably because they contain nicotine. He has also 
partially examined S. vei'basci folium , Ait. The name of the late Dr. 
Joseph Bancroft will ever be remembered here by his researches on 
Pituri ( Duboisia Ilopivoodii, F. v. M.), Anihocercis, and other Sola- 
naceous plants, but only the two Duboisias may be said now to have 
been thoroughly worked out. There is therefore much work to be 
done in regard to the chemical examination of our indigenous 
Solanneese, and such a research would be most uniformly and expedi- 
tiously done if a research student were enabled to devote his undivided 
attention to it for a lengthened period. As a model, I would here 
refer to Professor Liversidge’s investigation of pituri. t Some work 
lias already been done with A nthocercis, and a comprehensive exami- 
nation of this fairly large genus might therefore be undertaken early. 
Afithotroche , and the genera Lycium , Datura , and Isandra , represented 
in Australia each by one species, also await the investigator. 
Duboisia my op oroides, R. Br., is another of Dr. Joseph Bancroft’s 
drugs. What Hesse has done for Alstonia consfricta , Ladenburg has 
done for the present species. The value of the plant has been dis- 
counted of recent years by the discovery that the principal alkaloid it 
contains (duboisine) is isomeric with atropine. The leaves are 
nevertheless of much interest, and have by no means been fully w r orked 
out by either the chemist or the therapeutist. MerckJ has discovered 
in D. myoporoides a new alkaloid, pscudliyoscyamine, and is, I under- 
stand, continuing his investigations. Duboisine is identical with 
hyoscyamine, and according to Schmidt, commercial duboisine is 
frequently only scopolamine (hyoscine). 
tScropJiularinece. — The plants known in these colonies as Brook- 
lime are Graiiola pedunculate r, R. Br., and G. peruviana, Linn., and 
in Eastern Australia, in the country districts, they are coming 
increasingly into use for liver complaints, for which they appear to 
give satisfaction, the only complaint made being that a decoction is 
inclined to gripe. I trust that these plants, which frequent damp 
situations, and which are exceedingly plentiful in some places, will he 
carefully investigated. An allied species ( G . officinalis) is, like our 
plants, a bitter purgative and emetic ; but it is even poisonous in large 
doses. It is stated that the plant is so abundant in some Swiss 
* Journ. de Pharm.[4], iii., 2(55 ; Pharm. Journ. [3], i., 990; Hist, de Drogues 
{Fliickiger et Hanbury), ii., 104. 
f Proc. Rn y. Soc. N.S.W. 
1 1892, Bericht, p. ii. ; Phar. Journ. [3], xxiii, 606. 
