660  Homatr opine  and  the  Vitali  Test,    f  Am  jour.  Pharm. 
r  <-       Sept.,  1918. 
pol  in  neutral  cotton  oil,  after  which  alkali  was  required  to  render 
the  oil  again  neutral  to  phenolphthalein. 
Thus  the  presence  of  a  considerable  amount  of  gossypol  in  crude 
oil  would  increase  the  refining  loss.  The  writer  has  been  informed 
that  commercial  "  cold-pressed  "  oil  tends  to  show  a  smaller  refining 
loss  than  hot-pressed  oil.  Provided  the  same  seed  were  used  in 
each  process,  the  author  believes  that  the  reverse  would  be  true, 
owing  to  the  presence  of  considerable  amounts  of  gossypol  in  the 
crude  cold-pressed  oil. 
West  Raleigh,  N.  C. 
HOMATROPINE  AND  THE  VITALI  TEST.1 
By  H.  Droop  Richmond. 
In  both  the  British  and  the  United  States  Pharmacopceios  the 
Vitali  test  is  given  as  the  means  of  distinguishing  homatropine  from 
atropine,  hyoscyamine,  or  hyoscine.  Although  the  hydrobromide 
is  the  only  official  salt,  this  test  might  be  presumed  to  be  applicable 
to  other  salts  of  homatropine.  In  the  case  of  the  sulphate,  however, 
a  distinct  violet  color  is  obtained  when  0.01  grm.  of  homatropine 
sulphate  is  evaporated  with  5  drops  of  nitric  acid  to  dryness  in  a 
porcelain  dish  on  a  water-bath,  and  a  few  drops  of  alcoholic  potas- 
sium hydroxide  are  added  to  the  residue. 
It  was  found  that  when  prepared  with  pure  homatropine  which 
did  not  give  a  Vitali  test,  the  sulphate  yielded  a  violet  coloration,  and 
that  addition  of  the  equivalent  amount  of  sulphuric  acid  to  ho- 
matropine hybrobromide,  or  hydrochloride  brought  out  a  violet 
coloration.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  the  sulphuric  acid  of 
the  sulphate  so  intensifies  the  action  of  the  nitric  acid  as  to  produce 
a  result  which  is  not  given  in  the  absence  of  sulphuric  acid.  It  was 
found  that  when  the  alkaloid  is  separated  from  the  homatropine 
sulphate  and  the  Vitali  test  carried  out  on  this  instead  of  on  the  orig- 
inal salt  no  violet  coloration  is  obtained,  and  it  appears,  therefore, 
to  be  necessary  to  use  this  modification  of  the  Vitali  test  as  a  means 
of  distinguishing  between  atropine,  hyoscyamine,  or  hyoscine  and 
homatropine,  when  the  sulphate  is  tested,  and  the  direct  result 
should  not  be  accepted  as  positive  until  the  test  has  been  repeated 
on  the  extracted  alkaloid. 
1  From  the  Analyst  for  May,  1918. 
