I think, therefore, that both Planta
and Schmidt must have worked with a mixture of atropine and hyoscyamine.
It is true that Schmidt had received pure atropine under the name
of daturine, for I have proved most conclusively that the so-called
daturine supplied by Trommsdorff, of Erfurt, is pure atropine and
nothing else. It has no action whatever on polarized light.
III.--HYOSCYAMINE FROM HYOSCYAMUS.
Discovered by Geiger and Hesse in 1833. It was first obtained in the
form of needles, which were much more soluble than atropine. In the pure
state it forms a viscous mass with a repulsive odor. These researches
were repeated by Thibout, Kletinski, Ludwig, Lading, Bucheim, Wagymar,
and Renard.
Hoehn and Reichardt have recently studied hyoscyamine in a very complete
manner. They have obtained the body in the form of warty concretions as
soft as wax, and melting at 194 deg. F., having a formula according to them
of C_{15}H_{23}NO_{3}. They have also studied the splitting up of the
alkaloid by means of baryta water, and have obtained an acid which they
have named hyoscinic acid, and which melts at about 219 deg. F., and a basic
body, hyoscine, C_{6}H_{13}N.
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