Analysis showed this to contain 29·3 per cent. by volume of alcohol and 2·3 per cent. of alkaloid, which consisted principally of quinine. The liquid agreed generally with a diluted liquid extract of cinchona; the amount of alkaloid was just under half what is contained in the official liquid extract of cinchona. Treatment with suitable solvents extracted a trace of a non-alkaloidal bitter substance resembling the bitter substances obtainable from quassia, chiretta, &c.; a preparation of chiretta appeared to be the more probable. No strychnine was present, and no evidence was obtained of any other ingredient.
SOME OTHER DRUG CURES
FOR INEBRIETY.
A somewhat frequent constituent of preparations for the treatment of inebriety is atropine, while other preparations contain one or more of the alkaloids belonging to the same group, usually known as the solanaceous alkaloids from the fact that they are all derived from plants of the nat. ord. Solanaceae. These alkaloids closely resemble each other in their chemical nature and in their pharmacological properties; the principal members of the group are:
Atropine, C₁₇H₂₃NO₃; obtained chiefly from Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade) and Scopola carniolica.
Hyoscyamine, C₁₇H₂₃NO₃, obtained chiefly from Hyoscyamus niger (henbane) and Scopola species.
Hyoscine, or scopolamine, C₁₇H₂₁NO₄, obtained chiefly from Scopola species, Hyoscyamus niger, and Datura alba.
The two following were originally described as separate substances, but have more recently been shown to consist of mixtures:
Duboisine, obtained from Duboisia myoporoides, consists chiefly of hyoscyamine and hyoscine.
Daturine, from Datura stramonium (thornapple) consists chiefly of hyoscyamine, with a variable proportion of atropine.
A certain preparation for inebriety is said to contain “stramonine”; as no alkaloid has been described and characterized under this name, it is probably only a variant of daturine, which, as has been said, consists of a natural mixture of hyoscyamine and atropine.