Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  i 
Feb.,  1890.  J 
Scopola  Carnidlica. 
99 
ON  SCOPOLA  CARNIOLICA  (Jacquin). 
A  series  of  papers  were  read  at  an  evening  meeting  of  the 
Pharmaceutical  Society,  in  London,  December  n,  1889,  and 
published  in  Pharmaceutical  Journal  and  Transactions,  December 
14,  of  which  we  give  brief  abstracts  in  the  following.  The 
introductory  paper,  by  Prof.  W.  R.  Dunstan,  of  the  Research 
Laboratory  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society,  makes  the  follow- 
ing explanatory  statements : 
"  Rather  more  than  a  year  ago  Mr.  Ransom  brought  under 
my  notice  a  rhizome  which  had  recently  appeared  in  the  drug 
market,  being  offered  as  a  substitute  for  the  root  of  Atropa 
Belladonna  under  the  name  of  Belladonna  Scopolia.  It  was 
imported  from  Germany,  and  was  stated  to  grow  wild  in  the 
Carpathian  Mountains  and  in  other  parts  of  Austro-Hungary. 
The  juice  of  the  plant  was  supposed  to  possess  mydriatic  pro- 
perties. From  further  inquiries  it  appeared  that  an  abun- 
dant supply  of  the  plant  could  be  obtained  should  any  demand 
arise  for  it. 
Two  species  of  Scopola  have  already  been  made  the  subject 
of  chemical  investigation,  viz.,  Scopola  japonica  and  Scopolina 
Hladnikiana  (see  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  1888,  pp.  235  and  236). 
Scopola  japonica  has  been  used  to  some  extent  in  medicine. 
The  new  rhizome  was  not,  however,  likely  to  be  derived  from 
either  of  these  plants,  since  the  first  is  indigenous  to  Japan 
and  does  not  grow  in  Europe,  while  Scopolina  Hladnikiana  is 
rare  and  practically  unknown  outside  the  botanic  garden. 
Chemical  investigation  soon  showed  that  we  have  in  this 
plant  a  new  and  important  source  of  hyosc3^amine.  The 
chemical  examination  of  all  the  constituents  of  this  plant  is 
not  yet  quite  complete,  although  the  most  important  have 
been  minutely  studied.  We  think  it  desirable  to  publish  our 
present  results  without  delay,  since  it  appears  from  an 
announcement  in  a  recent  number  of  a  German  periodical 
that  at  the  meeting  of  the  Naturforscher  Verein,  at  Heidel- 
berg, Prof.  Schmidt,  of  Marburg,  stated  that  he  is  working  at 
a  species  of  Scopola  which  seems  likely  to  be  the  same  as  that 
we  have  investigated." 
A  second  paper  "  on  the  Chemical  Constituents  "  of  the  root, 
by  Prof.  Dunstan  and  A.  E.  Chaston,  gives  in  detail  the  pro- 
