382 POISONS : THEIR EFFECTS AND DETECTION. [§§ 447, 448. 
birds, rather than reptiles. In the Lamson case, subcutaneous injections 
were employed, but it is a question whether there is not less error in 
administering it by the mouth. If two healthy mice are taken, and the 
one fed with a little meal, to which a weighed quantity of the extract 
under experiment has been added, while to the other some meal mixed’ 
with a supposed equal dose of aconitine is given, then the symptoms 
may be compared ; and several objections to any operative proceeding 
on such small animals are obviated. It is certain that any extract 
which causes distinct numbness of the lips will contain enough of 
the poison to kill a small bird or a mouse, if administered in the 
ordinary way. 1 
VI.—The Mydriatic Group of Alkaloids : Atropine— 
Hyoscyamine—Solanine—Cytisine. 
§ 447. The family of the Solanacese contains several plants which 
yield certain alkaloids having very similar properties, the chief amongst 
which are the following :— 
Atropine, Hyoscyamine, Pseudohyoscyamine, Hyoscine, all having 
the formula C 17 H 23 N0 3 ; Atropamine, C 17 H 21 N0 2 ; Belladonnine, 
C J7 H 21 N0 2 ; and Scopolamine, C 17 H 21 N0 4 . 
§ 448. Atropine (Daturine), C 17 H 23 N0 3 .—This important alkaloid 
has been found in all parts of the Atropa belladonna , or deadly night¬ 
shade, and in all the species of Datura. 
The Atropa belladonna is indigenous, and may be found in some parts 
of England, although it cannot be said to be very common. It belongs 
to the Solanacese, and is a herbaceous plant with broadly ovate entire 
leaves, and lurid purple axillary flowers on short stalks ; the berries are 
violet-black, and the whole of the plant is highly poisonous. The juice 
of the leaves stains paper a purple colour. The seeds are very small, 
kidney-shaped, weighing about 90 to the grain ; they are covered closely 
with small round projections, and are easily identified by an expert, who 
may be supposed to have at hand (as is most essential) samples of different 
poisonous seeds for comparison. The nightshade owes its poisonous 
properties to atropine. 
The yield of the different parts of belladonna, according to Gunther ,2 
is as follows :— 
A. Langaard has described a species of aconite root, named by the Japanese 
Kusa-usu. From his experiments on frogs and rabbits, its physiological action seems 
not to differ from that of aconitine generally.—“ Ueber eino Art japanische Akonit- 
knollon, Kusa-usu genannt, u. fiber das in denselben vorkommende Akonitin.” 
Virchow's Archiv, lxxix. 229, 1880. 
Pharm. Zeitschr. f. Bussl., Feb. 1869; Dragendorff, Die chemische Werthbestim- 
mung einiger starkwirkenden Droguen , St Petersburg, 1874. 
