Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1892. 
Notes  on  Solanaceous  Bases. 
593 
anhydrous.  Ladenburg's  own  determinations  agree  with  that  view,  while  the 
other  formula  would  require  a  considerably  larger  amount  of  hydrogen  than 
was  actually  found  by  analysis. 
In  regard  to  hyoscine  picrate,  Iyidenburg  complained  that  his  analytical 
results  did  not  agree  well  with  the  formula  C17H23N03,C6Hg(NO)30  ;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  they  do  agree  well  with  the  formula  which  I  consider  to  be  the 
correct  one. 
A  further  confirmation  of  the  formula  C17H21N04is  furnished  by  the  com- 
position of  the  products  resulting  from  the  splitting  up  of  hyoscine  by  an 
alkali  or  by  hydrochloric  acid.  Ladenburg  held  that,  by  the  action  of  baryta, 
there  were  formed  tropic  acid  and  a  volatile  base,  having  a  composition  repre- 
sented by  the  formula  C8H15NO,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  pseudotropine; 
-while  on  another  occasion,  together  with  Roth,  he  found  the  composition  of  the 
very  same  substance  to  be  represented  by  the  formula  C8H15N02,  and  he  then 
gave  it  the  name  of  oxytropine.  But  in  reality  the  composition  of  this  base 
is  represented  by  the  formula  C8H15N02  ;  and  since  that  formula  does  not 
admit  of  any  direct  relation  to  tropine  being  recognized,  I  propose  to  give  the 
base  in  question  the  name  of  oscine,  which  is  derived  from  hyoscine  in  a  man- 
ner analogous  to  the  derivation  of  the  name  tropine  from  atropine. 
When  hyosine  hydrobromide  is  heated  for  some  hours  with  concentrated 
hydrochloric  acid  in  a  sealed  tube,  to  8o°  or  ioo°,  after  cooling,  an  oily  liquid 
settles  to  the  bottom,  which  can  be  separated  by  shaking  out  the  liquid  with 
ether,  while  the  oscine  remains  in  the  acid  portion.  On  evaporating  the  ether 
solution  the  oily  liquid  remains,  and  after  some  length  of  time  it  becomes  par- 
tially crystalline.  It  is  almost  entirely  dissolved  by  petroleum  spirit,  and  on 
evaporating  the  solution,  a  partially  crystallizable  oil  is  again  obtained  ;  the 
oily  substance  is  also  dissolved  by  lime  water,  and  after  addition  of  hydro- 
chloric acid,  it  can  be  again  obtained  unaltered  by  shaking  out  with  ether.  By 
treating  this  mass  with  hot  water,  an  acid  was  separated,  which  could  be  readily 
recognized  as  being  atropic  acid.  The  oily  liquid,  thus  purified,  continued  to 
yield  to  hot  water  fresh  quantities  of  atropic  acid,  which  was  readily  seen  to  be 
produced  by  the  treatment  with  water.  On  cooling  it  solidified,  but  a  thin 
crystalline  film  was  distinctly  recognizable  on  the  surface.  Analysis  gave  results 
showing  that  the  composition  of  this  substance  closely  approximated  to  the 
formula  C18H1805.  Owing  to  undoubted  retention  of  atropic  acid,  the  amount 
■of  carbon  was  rather  too  high,  and  the  hydrogen  too  low. 
On  a  former  occasion  I  met  with  the  same  substance  in  the  splitting  up  of 
atropamine  and  belladonnine,  just  as  it  was  previously  obtained  by  Merling 
in  the  splitting  up  of  belladonnine.  No  doubt  this  substance,  which  has  the  char- 
acter of  an  acid,  is  intermediate  between  tropic  acid,  which  Ladenburg 
obtained  from  hyoscine,  and  the  tropide  first  obtained  by  Kraut,1  and  to  which 
Iviebermann  and  Limpach2  gave  the  formula  C18H1604.  The  name  of  tro- 
pidic  acid  would  therefore  be  appropriate  for  this  substance.  The  continuous 
formation  of  atropic  acid,  by  heating  with  water,  would  be  represented  by  the 
equation  Cx SB.1 8Os  =  2C9H802  +H20,  while  the  formation  of  «-isatropic 
acid  which  has  been  previously  observed  to  result  from  prolonged  heating  to 
1  Annalen,  cxlviii,  p.  241. 
2  Berichte,  xxv,  p  937. 
