♦ 
u8  Hyoscy amine  Gold  Chloride.  {AmMa°rch,?8h92rm' 
About  0-120  grams  of  the  alkaloids  treated  with  3  cc.  of  dilute 
nitric  acid  in  a  small  test  tube  and  heated  gradually  by  immersion 
in  hot  water.  After  effervescence  had  ceased  and  the  yellow  crys- 
tals of  cacotheline  had  made  their  appearance,  an  excess  of  solution 
of  potassium  hydrate  was  added  and  the  mixture  cooled.  The 
alkaline  solution  was  then  exhausted  by  means  of  chloroform.  The 
chloroformic  solution  was  evaporated  to  dryness,  and  the  light  yel- 
lowish residue  treated  with  sulphuric  acid  and  potassium  bichro- 
mate at  once  gave  the  reaction  for  strychnine,  clear  and  distinct. 
Another  experiment  with  a  small  quantity  of  the  alkaloids  also 
gave  conclusive  results.  Owing  to  the  limited  quantity  of  material 
at  my  disposal,  I  was  unable  to  make  a  quantitative  determina- 
tion of  the  strychnine,  but  the  results  of  the  application  of  the 
above  method  were  sufficient  to  prove  that  the  percentage  is  exceed- 
ingly small,  and  would  probably  have  very  little  influence  on  the 
medicinal  properties  of  the  drug. 
Steps  have  been  taken  to  procure  a  fresh  supply  of  the  drug,  if 
possible,  which  I  hope  to  receive  in  the  near  future,  when  I  intend 
to  make  a  complete  analysis  of  it. 
Detroit,  Mich.,  February  12,  1892. 
ON   THE    CRYSTALLINE   FORM  OF  HYOSCYAMINE 
GOLD  CHLORIDE. 
By  J.  B.  Nagelvoort. 
Two  years  ago  (see  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  1890,  p.  118)  the  writer 
recorded  his  observation  on  commercial  atropine  sulphate  which 
was  found  to  be  hyoscyamine  sulphate,  and  attention  was  drawn  to 
the  shape  of  the  crystals  of  its  gold  chloride,  being  very  different 
from  that  of  atropine  gold  chloride,  as  figured  by  Prof.  Wormley 
in  his  Microchemistry  of  Poisons,  where,  however,  the  hyoscyamine 
double  salt  is  not  figured. 
The  crystalline  forms  of  the  two  salts  seem  to  me  to  be  less  liable 
to  be  confounded,  and  more  easily  observed  than  some  of  the  chemical 
requirements,  like  the  pleasant  odor  developed  on  heating  atropine 
under  the  conditions  described  by  the  Pharmacopoeia.  This  test 
recommended  by  Professor  Fluckiger  was  stated  by  the  late  Prof, 
van  der  Burg  (one  of  the  authors  of  the  Dutch  Pharmacopoeia)  to  be 
"  not  always  a  success." 
