OOHO COOH

Fittig and Wurster, who discovered atrolactic acid, C_{2}H_{10}O_{3},
an isomer of tropic acid, gives tropic acid the second formula, while
Burgheimar and myself have shown that it is the true formula of
atrolactic acid. Lately we have succeeded in performing the complete
synthesis of atropic acid, and the artificial preparation of atropine
has been greatly facilitated since I have shown that we can easily
reconstruct atropine by starting from its products of decomposition,
tropic acid, and tropine.

Before my researches nothing was known of the constitution of tropine.
New unpublished researches into this problem have shown that it closely
resembles neurine,[1] a body which I hope will speedily lead us to the
complete synthesis of atropine.

[Footnote 1: As we shall probably hear a great deal about this alkaloid,
it may be as well to state that, although found in the brain and liver,
it may be prepared synthetically by the action of ethylene oxide,
(CH_{2})_{2}O, water, H_{2}O, and trimethyiamine, N(CH_{3})_{3}. Its
constitution is that of trimethyl-ethylene-hydrate-ammonic-hydrate, and
has the following constitutional formula:

{ (CH_{2})_{2}OH
{ CH_{3}
N { CH_{3}
{ CH_{3}
{ OH

or in other words, it is the hydrate of