354 
Alkaloids  of  Piturie. 
j  Am.  .lour.  Pliarm, 
(       July,  1881. 
A.  Laden  burg  ('X'omptes  Rendus,"  1880,  vol.  xc,  p.  874-876), 
however,  states  that  the  alkaloid  of  Duhoisia  myoporoides  is  identical 
with  liyoscyamia,  and  tliat  it  crystallizes  in  small  needles,  fusing  at 
108 'S^C,  and  is  isomeric  with  atropia,  from  which  it  is  distinguished 
by  forming  a  brilliantly  lustrous  compound  with  gold  chloride,  fusing 
at  152°C.  Also  when  treated  with  baryta  it  is  converted  into  tropia 
and  tropic  acid,  both  of  which  are  also  obtained  from  atropia. 
The  great  discrepancy  between  A.  Ladenburg's  account  and  that  of 
Baron  von  Mueller's  the  author  thinks  can  only  be  accounted  for  by 
the  supposition  that  Ladenburg  must  have  been  supplied  with  a  dif- 
ferent material.  Baron  von  Mueller  and  Rummel  (''Jour.  Chem. 
Soc.,''  January,  1879)  state  very  plainly  that  the  Duhoisia  myopo7'oides 
yields  a  volatile  oily  alkaloid.  In  the  same  paper  Baron  von  Mueller 
also  describes  piturie  or  duboisic  acid  obtained  from  the  precipitate 
given  by  the  piturie  on  the  addition  of  basic  acetate  of  lead. 
In  the  "  Pharmaceutical  Society's  Journal "  for  April  5,  1879,  there 
is  an  account  of  an  examination  of  some  piturie  made  by  Mons.  Petit, 
of  Paris,  in  whicli  he  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the  alkaloid  is  iden- 
tical witli  nicotina ;  but  M.  Petit  does  not  seem  to  have  had  sufficient 
material  to  permit  a  combustion  to  be  made  of  the  alkaloid ;  he  had  to 
rely  mainly  upon  its  reactions  with  certain  chemicals,  and  apparently 
was  only  able  to  make  one  determination  each  of  the  platinum  and 
chlorine  in  the  platinum  salt;  the  amounts  of  which  apparently 
roughly  correspond  with  those  required  for  the  chloroplatinate  of  nico- 
tina, viz.,  o4'4  per  cent,  platinum  and  37  per  cent,  chlorine,  the  per- 
centages obtained  being  platinum  34  per  cent,  and  chlorine  36  per 
cent.  These  results,  however,  cannot  be  regarded  as  final,  since,  as 
will  be  shown  later  on,  the  platinum  salt  cannot  be  depended  upon, 
as  it  is  not  of  uniform  composition. 
In  the  preparation  of  the  alkaloid  by  the  author  the  piturie  was 
extracted  with  boiling  water  slightly  acidified  with  sulphuric  acid, 
the  liquid  concentrated  by  evaporation  and  distilled  with  an  excess  of 
caustic  soda,  the  alkaline  distillate  neutralized  by  hydrochloric  acid, 
and  evaporated  over  a  water-bath  until  reduced  to  a  small  bulk ;  the 
yellowish  residue  was  once  more  distilled  with  caustic  soda,  the  distil- 
late neutralized  with  hydrochloric  acid  and  again  concentrated.  It 
was  now  nearly  colorless*;  caustic  soda  was  again  added,  and  the 
liquid  shaken  up  with  ether.  The  ether  was  next  removed  by  dis- 
tillation, at  as  low  a  temperature  as  possible,  in  a  current  of  hydro- 
