620  The  Alkaloids  of  Bita  Bark.  {^^Ic'xrso""' 
already  been  made  to  the  more  intense  odor  of  the  Indian  henbane,  and 
it  may  therefore  be  worth  while  to  determine  on  a  small  quantity  of  a 
given. sample  the  amount  of  loss  suffered  in  the  process  of  drying,  and 
allowing  tor  that  loss  to  make  a  tincture  with  the  leaf  without  previ- 
ously drying  it,  so  that  the  strong  odor  which  is  probably  due  to  some 
volatile  principle,  and  also  the  acridity,  may  together  be  retained,  and 
probably  increase  the  therapeutic  value  of  the  product. 
It  is  to  be  wished  that  a  larger  supply  of  this  henbane  leaf,  with  full 
particulars  on  those  poinis  of  its  history  previously  referred  to,  may 
reach  this  country  for  the  institution  of  more  exact  experiments  to 
determine  the  relative  value  of  the  two  henbanes;  but  these  references 
may  serve  to  turn  attention  to  another  probable  source  for  an  official 
plant  now,  and  for  some  years  past,  very  scarce  in  this  country. 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  Indian  henbane,  from  its  very  intense 
odor,  probably  the  result  of  climatic  influences,  may  supply  a  thera- 
peutic agent  more  volatile  than  anv  one  of  the  official  preparations  from 
indigenous  henbane. — Pharm.  'Journ.  and  Trans, ^  Sept.  25,  1880. 
THE  ALKALOIDS  OF  DITA  BARK.i 
By  O.  Hesse. 
Apothecary  Gruppe,  of  Manilla,  prepared  from  dita  bark,  the  bark  of 
Ahtonia  scholaris  (syn.  Echites  scholaris\  3.  substance  that  he  named 
*'ditain,"  which  he  represented  to  be  obtained  in  the  same  way  as 
quinia  is  from  cinchona  bark.  This  alleged  method  of  preparation 
appears  to  have  given  rise  to  the  idea  with  some  that  this  ditain  was  a 
.peculiar  vegetable  base,  notwithstanding  that  from  the  communications 
of  Hildwein  ("Pharm.  Central.,"  1873,  ^6 ;  ''Neues  Repert.," 
xxii,  p.  561)  and  Gorup-Besanez  ("Annalen  der  Chemie,"  clxxvi,  p.  88) 
it  became  evident  that  the  preparation  in  question  was  nothing  but  an 
extract.  However,  Gorup-Besanez  separated  from  30  grams  of  ditain, 
according  to  Stas'  method,  a  very  small  quantity  of  a  strong  non-vola- 
tile and  crystallizable  alkaloid,  though  this  was  not  sufficient  for  further 
examination.  (See  also  "Am.  Jonr.  Phar  ,"  1873,  p.  316;  1876,  pp. 
221  and  369.) 
Before,  however,  Gorup-Besanez  directed  the  attention  of  chemists 
to  ditain,  Julius  Jobst  and  the  author  undertook  an  examination  of  dita 
.bark  itself.     This  investigation  led  to  the  discovery  of  an  alkaloid  pre- 
^Abstract  of  a  paper  in  the  "Annalen  der  Chemie,"  vol.  cciii,  p.  144. 
