594 
H yoscine-Scopolamine  Question . 
f  Am.  Jour  Pharm. 
I  November,  1897. 
the  mixtures  of  alkaloids  obtained  from  the  solanaceae  ;  that  Laden- 
burg  had  actually  got  hold  of  that  base,  which  gave  him  the  data 
for  his  formula  and  description  of  what  he  called  "  hyoscine,"  and 
that  the  same  base  has  since  then  happened  to  be  isolated  again. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  the  "  hyoscine  "  put  upon  the  market  by  E. 
Merck  has  been  and  is  assuredly  identical  with  scopolamine.  It  is 
only  for  the  purpose  of  obviating  misunderstandings  in  commercial 
and  medical  circles,  where  a  change  of  name  is  apt  to  create  great 
confusion,  that  our  house  has  retained  in  its  trade-list  the  desig- 
nation of  "hyoscine"  for  the  base  from  hyoscyamus,  while  apply- 
ing that  of  ((  scopolamine  "  to  the  base  from  Scopolia  atropoides. 
Since  the  opening  of  this  controversy,  the  Merck  laboratories  have, 
in  working  considerable  quantities  of  the  solanaceous  drugs  for 
alkaloids,  steadily  been  directed  toward  the  object  of  identifying  a 
base  C17H23N03,  which  is  to  possess  the  properties  of  hyoscine.  So 
far,  however,  we  have  not  succeeded  in  isolating  such  a  base. 
In  the  course  of  these  labors  we  were  indeed  fortunate  enough  to 
isolate  a  base  C17H23N03,  thus  isomeric  with  hyoscyamine  and  atro- 
pine, from  Duboisia  myoporoides.  This  base  we  have  named 
"  pseudo-hyoscyamine."  Its  properties,  however,  differ  essentially 
from  those  known  for  hyoscine.  For  instance,  hyoscine  is  an  oily 
liquid,  while  pseudo-hyoscyamine  melts  at  about  1320  to  1340.  Thus, 
the  possibility  of  any  confusion  between  these  two  appears  wholly 
excluded.  The  base  isolated  from  Duboisia  myoporoides  by  J. 
Gadamer  (albeit  in  quantity  insufficient  for  exact  determination)  is 
equally  unlikely  to  represent  Ladenburg's  "  hyoscine,"  inasmuch 
as  Gadamer,  from  his  analytic  results,  concludes  that  it  contains 
but  15  atoms  of  carbon.  Our  own  investigations  at  the  works 
covered  these  solanaceous  drugs :  Belladonna,  duboisia,  datura, 
stramonium,  hyoscyamus,  scopolia. 
On  examining  even  very  large  quantities  of  the  bases  residuary 
from  the  manufacture  of  atropine,  we  have  so  far  encountered  no 
substance  which  would,  even  approximately,  be  capable  of  identifi- 
cation with  the  "hyoscine  C17H23N03."  Furthermore,  repeated 
efforts  were  made  by  us  to  isolate  all  the  alkaloids  from  duboisia. 
All  that  were  obtained  on  such  occasions  were :  hyoscyamine,  hyos- 
cine (or  scopolamine)  C17H21N04,  considerable  quantities  of  amor- 
phous bases,  and  pseudo-hyoscyamine.  Never  was  an  alkaloid  met 
with  in  this  work  answering  to  the  formula  given  by  Ladenburg  for 
