642 
Notes  on  Solanaccous  Bases. 
<  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\        Dec.,  1892. 
postscript  dated  April  12,  1892,  refers  to  the  note  which  had  been  published  by 
me  April  9,  1S92, 1  giving  a  brief  statement  of  the  general  result  of  the  present 
paper.  Schmidt  now  explains  that  commercial  hyoscine  hydrobromide  is 
"  essentially  nothing  else  "  than  a  salt  of  the  base  which  he  calls  scopolamine. 
I  am  desirous  of  completing  that  explanation  by  stating  that  the  commercial 
hyoscine  hydrobromide  and  the  scopolamine  hydrobromide  in  question,  as 
already  shown  above,  correspond,  one  with  the  other,  not  alone  essentially  but 
completely.  The  small  differences  which  Schmidt  observed  in  the  gold  salt- 
prepared  from  the  commercial  hydrobromide,  probably  do  not  really  exist. 
Schmidt  makes  the  further  proposition  to  call  this  base  scopolamine,  because 
the  name  hyoscine  is  used,  in  chemical  literature,  as  suggestive  of  a  base 
isomeric  with  atropine  and  h}-oscyamine..  This  has  indeed  been  the  case  for 
some  ten  years  past  ;  but  those  are  to  blame  for  the  practice  who  have  been 
engaged  in  the  study  of  this  subject,  since  they  have  persistently  continued, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  advocate  the  formula  C1  -II,  .NO-  .  Now  that  this  for- 
mula has  been  placed  upon  a  correct  footing,  all  the  requirements  of  the  case  are, 
thereby,  satisfied,  and  it  would  be  inappropriate,  at  the  same  time,  to  alter  the 
name  of  the  substance,  more  especially  since  the  name  hyoscine  has  long  been 
established  in  medicine  and  pharmacy,  as  well  as  in  trade,  while  on  the  other 
hand,  the  name  scopolamine,  which  is  scarcely  known,  would  first  have  to 
become  familiar.  It  is  doubtful  whether  that  would  ever  happen.  I  am  there- 
fore desirous  of  strenuously  urging  chemists  to  adhere  to  the  use  of  the  name 
hyoscine,  which  was  selected  by  Ladenburg  for  the  base  in  question,  and  has 
been  in  general  use  up  to  the  present  time. 
Finally,  in  reference  to  the  term  scopoline,  by  which  Schmidt  proposes  to 
designate  the  corresponding  volatile  base,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  a  glucoside 
is  already  understood  under  this  name  in  chemical  literature.  Consequently 
the  name  cannot  be  so  applied  without  risk  of  confusion. 
(6)  Atropamine. — This  base  was  first  obtained  by  me  from  the  mixture  of 
bases  constituting  crude  atropine,  and  resulting  from  the  treatment  of  a  large 
quantity  of  belladonna  root.  It  was  not,  as  stated  by  Merck,  discovered  in 
belladonnine.  Since  atropamine  is  precipitated  from  its  acetic  acid  solution  by 
sodium  chloride,  while  the  crystallizable  constituents  of  crude  atropine — atro- 
pine and  hyoscyarnine — are  not  precipitated  in  that  way,  the  separation  of  the 
base  from  these  latter  was  not  attended  with  much  difficulty.  Having  regard  to 
its  characters,  it  would  not  therefore  be  difficult  to  detect  the  presence  of  atro- 
pamine in  belladonna  root  from  other  sources,  although  the  amount  present  is 
generally  very  minute. 
I  have  now  only  to  add  to  my  previous  communication2  on  this  subject 
that  the  platinum  salt  of  atropamine  can  also  be  obtained  from  a  cold  concen- 
trated water  solution,  as  pale  yellow  scales,  melting  with  decomposition,  at 
2030  to  2040. 
In  regard  to  the  base  resulting  from  the  splitting  up  of  atropamine,  it  cannot, 
according  to  what  has  been  stated  above,  be  the  pseudotropine  discovered  by 
Ladenburg,  or  oscine.  since  that  has  a  totallv  different  composition  from  the 
base  in  question.    On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  tropine,  because  the  melting 
1  Pharntaceutische  Zeitung,  1S92. 
8  A  nnalen,  eclxi,  p.  87. 
