Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Feb.,  1893. 
Detection  of  Atropine. 
(KCl,AuCl3)  with  a  solution  of  caffeine  in  chloroform,  a  salt,  crystal- 
lizing in  dark  red  needles,  was  obtained.  This  is  shown  to  be  caf- 
feine potassium  aurochloride  (C8H10N4O,,  KC1,  AuCl3),  which  differs 
from  caffeine  aurochloride  in  containing  potassium  in  the  place 
of  the  hydrogen  of  hydrochloric  acid.  This  salt  melts  at  2080 
(corr.).  It  readily  dissolves  in  alcohol  and  water,  forming  yellow 
solutions,  which  appear  to  contain  not  the  salt  itself,  but  its 
constituents — caffeine  and  potassium  chloraurate.  The  salt  is 
nearly  insoluble  in  ether  and  chloroform,  but  prolonged  contact 
with  these  liquids  leads  to  its  decomposition  into  caffeine 
and  potassium  chloraurate. 
Both  aurochlor  caffeine  and  the  caffeine  potassium  aurochloride 
were  obtained  alike  from  the  bases  derived  from  tea  and  coffee. 
DETECTION  OF  ATROPINE.1 
By  L.  Fabris. 
A  patient  at  a  hospital  in  Padua,  who  had  for  some  time  been 
treated  by  daily  injections  of  6  milligrams  of  strychnine  nitrate,  died 
a  few  hours  after  receiving  an  accidental  injection  of  3  milligrams 
of  normal  atropine  sulphate,  exhibiting  acute  symptoms  of  atropine 
poisoning.  At  the  post-mortem,  the  presence  of  bilateral  mydriasis, 
and  of  congestion  of  the  meninges  and  of  the  cerebellum  became 
evident.  On  examining  the  viscera  by  the  Stas-Otto  method,  clear 
indications  of  the  presence  of  an  alkaloid  were  obtained,  but  on 
applying  the  special  reactions  for  strychnine  and  atropine,  the 
results  were  negative.  To  test  the  possibility  of  these  alkaloids 
obscuring  each  other's  reactions,  mixtures  of  3  per  cent,  solutions  (the 
strength  of  the  injections)  of  strychnine  nitrate,  and  atropine 
sulphate  were  tested  with  sulphuric  acid  and  potassium  dichromate, 
and  by  Vitali's  reaction,  with  the  following  results.  A  mixture  of 
equal  parts  of  the  solutions  gave  the  strychnine  reaction  very 
clearly,  but  the  atropine  reaction  not  at  all;  a  mixture  of  I  of 
strychnine  with  3  of  atropine  gave  the  strychnine  reaction,  but  not 
that  of  atropine  ;  a  mixture  of  1  part  of  strychnine  with  4  of  atropine 
gave  indistinct  reactions  for  both  alkaloids;  a  mixture  of  I  of  strych- 
nine to  5  of  atropine  gave  a  momentary  atropine  reaction ;  the 
characteristic  violet  coloration  is,  however,  immediately  superseded 
1  Gazzetta,  22,  i,  347-350.  Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  1892,  p.  1534. 
