592 
Notes  on  Solanaceous  Bases. 
•  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1       Nov.,  1892. 
thus  established,  the  further  investigation  was  proceeded  with  for  the  purpose 
in  view. 
In  preparing  hyoscine,  the  method  already  described  was  exactly  followed. 
On  evaporating  the  chloroform  solution,  the  base  could  not  be  obtained  in  a 
crystalline  state  ;  it  remained,  at  the  normal  temperature,  as  a  hard,  trans- 
parent, resinous  mass  which  melted  near  550,  forming  a  mobile  liquid.  Analy- 
sis of  the  base  dried  at  900,  until  the  weight  became  constant,  gave  results  cor- 
responding much  more  closely  with  the  formula  C17H21N04  than  with 
C17H23N03,  and  proving  that  the  composition  of  hyoscine  is  properly  repre- 
sented by  the  former. 
Hyoscine  is  rather  freely  soluble  in  water  and  very  soluble  in  ether,  chloro- 
form or  alcohol.  An  alcohol  solution  has  a  strong  basic  reaction,  and  it  gives 
for  [#]D — i3°7  when^  =  2-65  and  /  =  150.  When  the  solution  is  mixed 
with  a  very  small  quantity  of  caustic  soda  its  rotatory  power  is  rapidly  diminished. 
This  base  may  be  precipitated  from  water  solutions  of  its  salts  by  caustic 
soda  or  ammonia ;  but  a  certain  degree  of  concentration  of  the  solution  is 
necessary  for  that  purpose.  It  forms  with  several  acids  crystallizable  salts, 
most  of  which  have  already  been  prepared  and  examined  by  Ladenburg,  but 
their  composition  has  been  represented  by  inappropriate  formulae. 
Hyoscine  hydrochloride  crystallizes,  though  with  difficulty,  when  the  water 
solution  of  the  salt  is  evaporated.  The  solution  does  not  give  a  precipitate 
with  platinum  chloride  ;  but  with  gold  chloride,  on  the  contrary,  even  when 
tolerably  dilute,  it  gives  a  crystalline  precipitate.  By  cooling  a  hot  solution  of 
the  gold  salt  it  crystallizes  in  yellow  needles,  often  grouped  like  those  of  ammo- 
nium chloride.  The  salt  is  anhydrous,  and,  as  Ladenburg  found,  melts  near 
1980  with  decomposition.  That  melting-point  is  not  the  least  altered,  how- 
ever many  times  the  salt  may  be  crystallized  from  water.  Analysis  of  the  salt 
gave  results  corresponding  with  the  formula  C17H21N04,AuCl4H,  and  the 
majority  of  the  results  that  were  obtained  by  Ladenburg  also  agree  with  that 
formula  ;  but  not  one  of  the  gold  determinations  made  by  him  agree  with  the 
formula  C1 7H2 3N03, AuCl4H. 
Hyoscine  hydrobromide  has  the  form  of  large  rhombic  crystals  with  a  vitre- 
rous  lustre  ;  it  is  readily  soluble  in  water,  and  contains  water  of  crystallization 
that  is  completely  separated  by  drying  in  the  exsiccator  at  the  normal  tempera- 
ture. The  water  solution  p  =  4  (not  effloresced),  and  t  ==  150 gives  for  [«]D  — 
220 "5.  Analysis  indicated  that  the  composition  of  the  air-dried  salt  is  repre- 
sented by  the  formula  Cx  7H2 1N04,HBr  -f  3H20,  and  that  of  the  dehydrated 
salt  by  C17H21N04,HBr.  Ladenburg,  in  order  to  bring  the  results  of  his 
analyses  into  agreement  with  the  formula  C17H23N03  for  hyoscine,  assumed 
that  the  salt  dried  in  the  exsiccator,  or  even  at  ioo°,  still  retained  half  a  mole- 
cule of  water.  But  his  own  hydrogen  determination,  for  the  salt  dried  at  ioo°, 
is  evidence  against  that  assumption.  In  the  air-dried  salt  Ladenburg  felt  com- 
pelled to  assume  the  presence  of  three  and  a  half  molecules  of  water  of  crys- 
tallization ;  but  the  results  of  his  analyses  do  not  agree  with  the  formulae 
assigned  by  him  to  either  the  dried  or  the  hydrated  salt. 
Hyoscine  hydriodide  is  also  obtainable  in  fine  crystals  ;  a  water  solution  is 
laevorotatory.  According  to  Ladenburg  it  also  retains  half  a  molecule  of  water 
when  dried  at  ioo°  ;  but  according  to  my  observation  it  is,  in  that  condition, 
