550  Gleanings  from  the  Foreign  Journnls.  \  ^"^Nov^'iSiT'"* 
contains  1617  P^^  cent,  of  water,  while  cinchonidia  sulphate  contains- 
137  per  cent,  of  water;  so  that  if  a  sample  of  quinia  be  not  efflo- 
resced, and  contain  less  than  the  16  per  cent,  of  water,  it  is  because  of 
admixture  of  cinchonidia  sulphate. — Ib'id.^  xiii,  p.  15 17. 
On  Hyoscina. — Ladenburg  made  mention,  some  little  while  ago  (this 
journal,  July,  1880,  p.  368),  of  the  fact  that  hyoscyamus  contained  two 
alkaloids — a  crystalline  one,  now  known  as  hyoscyamina,  and  an  amor- 
phous one,  which  he  had  not  as  yet  studied  fully.  He  now  describes 
this  in  full.  It  remains  in  the  mother-liquor  after  the  removal  of  the 
crystallizable  alkaloid,  and  comes  into  commerce  as  a  brown,  thickish 
syrup.  It  can  be  extracted  by  the  formation  of  the  gold  salt,  which  is 
less  soluble  thin  hyoscyamin-gold-chloride.  The  alkaloid,  for  which 
he  proposes  the  name  Hyoscina,  when  purified  and  decomposed  by 
baryta  water,  gave  tropic  acid  and  a  base  isomeric  with  but  distinct 
from  tropia.  In  conclusion,  the  composition  of  the  associated  alka- 
loids is  thus  presented  : 
1.  Atropia,  C17H23NO3,  splits  up  into  tropic  acid,  CgHj^Og,  and  tropia,  CgH^^NO. 
2.  Hyoscyamia,  C^^H23N03,  splits  up  into  tropic  acid,  CgH^^jOg,  and  tropia, 
CgH^^NO. 
3.  Hyoscina,  Ci^H23NOo,  splits  up  into  tropic  acid,  CgH^^Og,  and  pseudotropia, 
4.  Homatropia,  C^gH2^N02,  splits  up  into  mandelic  acid,  CgHgOg,  and  tropia,, 
CgH.^NO. 
— Ibid.^  xiii,  p.  1549. 
GLEANINGS  FROM  THE  FOREIGN  JOURNALS. 
By  Frederick  B.  Power. 
Studies  on  the  Constituents  of  Scilla  maritima.  By  A.  Riche 
and  A.  R^mont. — One  of  the  authors,  having  been  commissioned  to 
report  upon  a  fat  employed  as  a  rat  poison,  and  which  was  found  to  con- 
tain squill,  was  led  to  extend  his  studies  to  the  various  constituents  of  the 
bulb. 
They  find  that  the  bitterness  of  the -bulbs  is  very  different  in  com- 
paring even  the  scales  taken  from  the  same  portion,  and  that  the  juice 
may  be  saccharine,  and  not  at  all  bitter.  This  circumstance  could  be 
attributed  to  the  time  of  collection,  to  a  variety  of  species,  or  to  cer- 
tain principles  which  are  capable  of  undergoing  modification.  The 
latter  is  supposed  to  play  an  important  part,  and  is  attributed  to  a  ternary 
principle,  comparable  to  soluble  starch,  gum  or  to  inulin,  which  they/ 
