508 
Solarium  Paniculatum. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      Oct.,  1877. 
ity  of  Bahia,  at  Cape  Fio,  in  the  provinces  of  Pernambuco,  Ceara, 
Minas  Geraes,  Santa  Catharina,  and  in  other  parts  of  Western  Brazil. 
It  flowers  in  December. 
The  term  juripeba,  by  which  the  Solanum  paniculatum  is  known  in 
some  parts  of  Brazil,  has  also  been  applied  by  botanists  to  a  large  num- 
ber of  solanaceous  plants.  A  reference,  however,  to  De  Candolle 
(Pro.,  xiii,  p.  30)  will  show  that  although  the  juripeba  and  the  S.  pani- 
culatum are  both  placed  in  section  II  of  the  solanaceae,  the  former 
come  under  the  sub-section  Euleptostemonum,  while  the  latter  appears 
among  the  Torvaria.  Furthermore,  jurubeba  or  jubeba  must  not  be 
confounded  with  another  Brazilian  plant,  the  jumbeba,  which  belongs 
to  the  cactaceae. 
At  the  close  of  the  Centennial  Exhibition  I  received,  through  the 
kindness  of  the  Brazilian  Commissioners,  a  few  ounces  of  the  jurubeba 
berries,  and  likewise  small  quantities  of  a  syrup,  wine  and  plaster  of 
jurubeba,  prepared  at  the  Pharmacia  Americana,  of  Ferreira  Maia  & 
Co.,  Pernambuco.  For  the  purpose  of  determining  whether  the  berries 
and  the  preparations  made  therefrom  contained  solania  or  other  alka- 
loid, I  have  lately  examined  the  different  articles  as  thoroughly  as  the 
limited  quantities  at  my  disposal  would  permit,  with  the  following 
results. 
As  a  preliminary  examination  of  a  small  quantity  of  the  dilute  alco- 
holic liquid,  in  which  the  berries  were  preserved,  rendered  it  probable 
that  solania  was  present,  the  crushed  berries,  amounting  to  less  than 
three  ounces,  were  exhausted  with  75  per  cent,  alcohol,  and,  the  pre- 
serving fluid  having  been  added,  the  whole  liquid  was  filtered  and  eva- 
porated to  a  soft  extract,  which  was  exhausted  with  water  acidulated 
with  acetic  acid,  and  the  solution  filtered.  To  this  filtrate  ammonia 
was  added  in  slight  excess  ;  the  grayish  precipitate  produced,  was  separ- 
ated by  filtration,  washed,  dissolved  in  acetic  acid,  and  reprecipitated  by 
ammonia,  by  which  treatment  it  was  rendered  nearly  white.  It  was 
then  dissolved  in  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  and  the  solution  placed  over 
sulphuric  acid  under  a  bell-glass.  After  the  evaporation  of  the  liquid, 
there  remained  a  slightly  yellowish  mass,  composed  of  prismatic  crys- 
tals, which  on  being  ignited  on  platinum  foil  left  a  very  considerable 
residue.  Further  examination  of  these  crystals  proved  that  they  were 
composed  of  ammonio-phosphate  of  magnesia,  with  a  small  amount  of 
coloring  matter. 
