5io 
Solatium  Paniculatum, 
{Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1877. 
digested  with  dilute  hydrochloric  acid,  the  precipitated  chloride  of  lead 
separated  by  filtration,  and  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas  passed  through 
the  filtrate  to  remove  all  traces  of  the  lead  salt.  The  filtrate  from 
the  sulphide  of  lead  was  then  treated  in  the  same  manner  as  the  wine, 
chloroform  being  used  in  this  case  also  as  the  solvent  of  the  nascent 
alkaloid.  To  the  syrup  (four  fluidounces),  largely  diluted  with  water, 
phosphomolybdic  acid  was  added  as  long  as  a  precipitate  was  produced. 
The  supernatant  liquid  having  been  decanted,  the  precipitate  was  washed 
with  water  containing  phosphomolybdic  and  nitric  acids,  and  solution  of 
hydrate  of  baryta  added  to  it  while  still  moist  until  the  mixture  gave  a 
decided  alkaline  reaction.  It  was  then  treated  with  carbonic  acid  gas, 
evaporated  to  dryness  on  a  water-bath,  and  the  alkaloid  extracted  from 
the  carbonate  of  baryta  by  alcohol.  The  alcoholic  solution  was  found 
to  be  neutral  to  test  paper,  as  was  also  the  case  with  those  obtained 
from  the  wine  and  plaster  by  means  of  chloroform.  The  residues 
from  these  solutions,  which  were  precisely  similar  in  appearance  to  those 
obtained  from  the  berries,  were  treated  with  very  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  and 
the  filtered  solutions  tested,  with  the  result  of  giving  reactions  that  corre- 
sponded exactly  with  those  furnished  by  the  solution  of  the  chloride 
derived  from  the  berries.  Crystals  were  not  obtained  by  evaporating 
these  solutions,  the  residues  being  semi-transparent,  amorphous,  resinous 
masses  of  a  light  yellow  color. 
Although  the  quantity  of  material  operated  on  was  too  small  to  admit 
of  the  separation  of  the  active  principle  or  its  salts  in  a  sufficiently 
pure  state  to  determine  either  their  precise  chemical  characters  or  to 
investigate  their  physiological  action  and  therapeutic  effects,  the  above 
experiments  show  conclusively  that  the  substance  extracted  by  the  pro- 
cesses mentioned  differs  in  many  respects  from  the  glucoside  solania 
and  the  known  alkaloids  of  the  solanaceae.  I  would  therefore  propose 
the  term  jurubebia  to  designate  the  alkaloid  contained  in  the  berries  of 
the  Solanum  paniculatum. 
An  examination  of  the  ash  of  the  jurubeba  berries  proved  that  it 
was  composed  mainly  of  lime  and  magnesia,  in  combination  with  car- 
bonic and  phosphoric  acids. 
