FOLIA HYOSCYAMI. 4G5 



Avhich are far richer in it than the leaves.^ The seeds are deprived of 

 the fatty oil (26 per cent.) and treated with spirit of wine containing 

 sulphuric acid, which takes out the hyoscj'aniine in the form of sul- 

 phate. The alcohol is then evaporated and tannic acid added ; tlie 

 precipitate thus obtained is mixed with Jinie and exhausted with 

 alcohol. The hyoscyamine is again converted into a sulphate, the 

 aqueous solution of which is tlien precipitated with carbonate of 

 sodium, and the alkaloid dissolved by means of ether. After the evapo- 

 ration of the ether, hyoscyamine remains as an oily liquid which after 

 some time concretes into wart-like tufted crystals, soluble in benzol, 

 cliloroform, ether, as well as in water. Hohn and Reichardt assign 

 to hyoscyamine the formula C^^H-^0^ The seeds yield of it only 05 

 per cent. 



Iimj 

 and 

 )f a 



narcotic odour and alkaline reaction. By keeping it over sulphuric acid 

 it crystallizes and also yields crystallized salts; hyoscine may be closely 

 allied to conine, CH'^N. Hyosciuic acid, a crystallizable suLstancc 

 having an odour resembling that of empyreumatic benzoic acid.- It 

 melts, according to Hohn, at 105°; tropic acid (see p. 457), melting at 

 118', agrees so very nearly with hyoscinic acid that further researches 

 ■will probably prove these acids to be identical. 



Another process for extracting hyoscyamine is due (1875) to 

 Tliibaut. He removes by bisulphide of carbon the fatty oil from the 

 powdered seeds, and exhausts them with alcohol slightly acidulated by 

 tartaric acid. The alcohol being distilled off, the author precipitates 

 the alkaloid by means of a solution containing 6 per cent, ot 

 iodide of potassium and 3 per cent, iodine. By decomposing the 

 precipitate with sulphurous acid, hydroiodic acid and sulphate ol 

 hyoscyamine are formed. The latter is dried up at 35' with magnesia 

 and the hyoscyamine extracted by alcohol or chloroform. The crystals 

 melt at 90°. Thibaut found the alkaloid thus prepared from seeds 

 diftering from that yielded by the leaves, the latter having a somewlmt 

 strong odour. ^ . ... 



AttfiekP has pointed out that extract of henbane is rich m nitrate 

 0? potassium and other inorganic salts. In the leaves, the amount oi 

 mtrate is, according to Thorey,^ largest before flowering, and the same 

 Observation applies to hyoscyamine. 



Uses-^Henbane in the form of tincture or extract is a.lministcred 

 as a sedative, anodyne or hypnotic. The impropriety ^f g^^'^S /^ '" 

 J«DJunction with free potash or soda, which render it perfectly ii^eU. 

 \?f been demonstrated by the experiments of Garrod." Hyoscyamine, 

 'iKe atropine, powerfully dilates the pupil of the eye. 



Substitutes-//2/osc2/amu8 alhn^ L., a more slender plant than 11. 



flSr'^fTv *^^ experiments of Scliooiibroodt said chemists. ^F. A. ^j -^"^y^^^'' 

 ^8C8}, there is reason to believe that the =» /'/.ar»j. ^''''l^f^J^^l^ ^L.herM^^ 



^•je principle of henbane can be more ' Wiggers and Hustmann, 



^\ '''•S^plan? ^""""^ *''" ^''''^' *'"'" ^""" ^^fbf^-m. Journ. xvii. (1858) 462 ; xviii. 



th'^^^^'^^ad the opportunity of examining (1859) 174. 

 ''"ove substances as prepared by the 



2g 



