188 APPENDIX, 
by side on four of the most troublesome samples of tincture, and the 
results in each case were exactly concordant. 
The alkaloid as obtained by either of these processes is in the form 
of a perfectly colourless, transparent fused mass, It is soluble in 
water and dilute acids, and the reactions generally correspond with 
those of the alkaloidal residue obtained from the belladonna tinctures. 
A glance at the table will show that the most perfect exhaustion of 
stramonium seeds is effected by the use of a 60 or 70 per cent, men- 
struum, the average yield of alkaloid by the tinctures prepared with 
menstrua of these strengths being equal. It is open to question, 
the leaves. The chief objections to the tincture prepared from the 
seeds are that it almost invariably becomes turbid and deposits when 
kept, and also becomes opaque on dilution, which objections do not 
apply to a 50 per cent. tincture of the leaves, 
The results of the ination of the leaf-tinctures are appended to 
the table. The leaves from which No. 1 series was prepared were 
gathered from plants grown by one of us (Farr), and the deficiency 
of alkaloid is doubtless accounted for by the persistent rain and lack 
of sunshine which characterized the past season, The tinctures made 
from the other two specimens, however, gave the same average of 
The results tabulated go to prove that the alkaloidal content of 
stramonium seeds does not vary to anything like the same extent as 
does that of most other drugs, the yield of the tinetures varyin 
between the limits of -020 and -034, with an average of “(26 per cent, 
This tincture, like those of henbane and belladonna, readily admits 
of standardization, and the standard should be fixed not lower than 
“025 per cent, 
The average amount of alkaloid contained in the seeds, calculated 
upon the basis of our results, is about «2 per cent, 
