440  Nomenclature  of  the  Alkaloids.  (Am;  j0UVSrm* 
«/  (     August,  1884. 
the  fruit  is  by  tying  a  few  bunches  in  a  handkerchief  and  sucking  the 
juice  through  it.  Small  birds  are  very  partial  to  the  ripe  fruit  and  no 
injurious  effect  on  them  is  apparent;  most  probably  the  seeds  are  voided 
by  them  entire.  In  the  early  days  of  the  colony,  when  bullock  labor 
was  universal,  whole  teams  were  sometimes  destroyed  or  disabled  in  a 
single  night  by  this  pernicious  plant,  rendering  great  care  necessary  in 
the  choice  of  a  camping  place.  The  immunity  enjoyed  by  the  goat  in 
respect  of  this  plant  was  some  years  ago  made  use  of  on  the  Flaxbourne 
sheep  run,  a  large  number  of  these  animals  being  procured  for  the 
especial  purpose  of  securing  its  eradication.  That  an  animal  to  whom 
the  varied  contents  of  a  choice  flower  garden  are  a  comestible  delicacy 
should  be  proof  against  this  particular  plant  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
but  why  the  plant  should  be  so  powerfully  toxic  as  regards  other 
ruminants  is  a  matter  for  surprise. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  July  12, 
1884,  p.  22. 
THE  NOMENCLATURE  OF  THE  ALKALOIDS  OF  ATROPA 
BELLADONNA  AND  DATURA  STRAMONIUM.1 
By  E.  Schmidt. 
The  author  having  received  several  inquiries  from  physicians  and 
others  as  to  what  substance  was  to  be  understood  under  the  term 
"daturine/  and  in  what  it  differed  from  atropine,  answers  the  question 
in  this  paper  upon  the  basis  of  the  investigations  carried  on  by  himself 
and  by  Ladenburg.  He  points  out  that  in  those  investigations  it  was 
ascertained  by  different  methods  that  the  two  alkaloids,  atropine  and 
hyoscyamine,  are  contained  in  Atropa  Belladonna  as  well  as  in  Datura 
Stramonium.  The  experiments  of  the  author  showed  that  in  both 
plants  the  principal  part  of  this  alkaloidal  mixture  consists  of  atropine, 
having  a^melting  point  of  115°  to  115,5°C,  the  quantity  of  hyoscya- 
mine remaining  in  the  mother  liquor  after  the  crystallization  of  the 
atropine  being  considerably  smaller.  According  to  the  author's  expe- 
rience the  yield  of  "  daturine,"  which  name  is  used  to  describe  the 
basic  mixture  isolated  from  Datura  Stramonium,  varies  very  consider- 
ably according  to  the  quality  of  the  seed.  For  instance,  four  samples  of 
thorn-apple  seed  from  different  sources  yielded  from  5  kilos  respectively 
1  From  the  "  Archiv  der  Pharmacie,"  xxii,  329. 
