432 
Folia  Scopolia:  Camiolicce. 
I  Am.  Jour.  Pharrs). 
I   Septemter,  1894. 
The  plant  answered  to  the  description  given  in  De  Candolle's 
Prodomus. 
There  is  very  little  analogy  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  to  guide 
one  in  predicting  the  presence  of  an  alkaloid.  The  leaves  of 
Conium  maculatum  contain  only  a  minute  quantity  of  coniine  ;  the 
leaves  of  most  of  the  Solanacea,  Ranunculacece  and  Umbelliferce  are 
reputed  to  be  poisonous,  yet  there  are  plants  in  those  very  families 
which  are  perfectly  harmless.  We  see  in  the  tomato  (a  Solanea) 
what  cultivation  will  do  for  a  poisonous  plant.  Coca  and  tea  leaves 
only  need  mentioning. 
The  scopolia  was  cultivated,  and  cultivated  plants  are  very  fre- 
quently poorer  in  alkaloidal  strength  than  those  growing  wild. 
Such  freaks  of  nature  are  frequently  met  with.  Cinchona  is  a  brilliant 
exception.  It  is  a  mooted  question  yet  about  cultivated  ipecac.  I 
have  assayed  roots  cultivated  in  India,  but  have  not  found  any  higher 
percentage  of  total  alkaloids  in  them,  than  in  those  gathered  wild 
in  the  South  American  forests. 
I  collected  a  little  over  thirty  grams  of  air-dry  leaves  from  my 
scopolia  plant.  On  submitting  7-5  grams  to  an  exhaustion  process 
with  the  well-known  Prollius'  mixture,  in  the  usual  way,  neither  gold 
chloride  nor  Vitali's  test  for  mydriatic  alkaloids  yielded  a  reaction 
with  the  residue  obtained  as  the  last  step  in  the  analysis.  Hyos- 
cine  always  gives  me  both  identity  reactions. 
Twenty-five  grams  of  air-dry  leaves  were  thereupon  exhausted 
with  75  per  cent,  alcohol ;  the  latter  was  evaporated  at  a  tempera- 
ture not  exceeding  500  C.  The  residue  was  exhausted  with  acidu- 
lated water;  this  latter  was  washed  with  benzine,  then  made 
alkaline  and  extracted  with  a  mixture  of  ether  and  chloroform. 
The  experiments  on  the  presence  of  an  alkaloid  were  totally  negative. 
The  reader  will  please  bear  in  mind  that  this  is  an  isolated  case. 
It  is  not  an  unfrequent  occurrence  that  great  fluctuations  are  found 
in  the  alkaloidal  strength  of  our  medicinal  plants. 
Detroit,  August  1,  1894. 
