84 INFLUENCE OF FRYING ON THE ACTIVE PRINCIPLES OF PLANTS. 
crystallized borax contains about 47 per cent, of water, and hence the 281 48 grams 
found will correspond to 535'08 grains of crystallized salt. Besides the amount of bi¬ 
borate of soda contained in the mud of the lake, its waters are therefore capable of afford¬ 
ing at least 6000 additional tons.— Naturalist’s Note-Book. 
ON THE INFLUENCE OF DRYING ON THE ACTIVE PRINCIPLES OF 
PLANTS.* 
BY DR. LEOPOLD SCHOONBROODT, APOTBffiCARY AT LIEGE. 
The author extended his examination to 29 plants, selected for the importance and 
frequency of their use in medicine. The process of examination was based upon the 
principles of Stas’ method. . . ., , 
The carefully selected plants, when possible collected of wild growth, were divided 
into two equal parts, one of which was dried, if necessary, with artificial heat, then pow¬ 
dered, the loss in drying replaced by water, after maceration for 24 hours displaced with 
95 per cent, alcohol, and the tincture treated like that of the fresh portion. 
The other half of the fresh plant was reduced to small fragments, macerated with Jo 
per cent, alcohol for 24 hours, then expressed and again macerated as before. The liquids 
were united, filtered and distilled at a temperature of 56 to 60 C., the residue filtered 
and the filtrate evaporated over sulphuric acid under a bell-glass; the residue upon the 
filter was kept separate. . 
The treatment of plants containing alkaloids was modified by adding tartaric acid to 
the tincture, to ensure the solubility of the alkaloid in the aqueous solution of the alco- 
holic extract 
Treatment of the dry extract .—1. Plants with alkaloids. The dry extract was mixed with 
its own weight of burned lime, the mixture treated with twice the weight of 95 per cent, 
alcohol, and after 24 hours with four parts of ether, well agitated and then decanted ; 
the sediment was twice treated in the same manner. The liquid was evaporated spon¬ 
taneously, the residue dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid, filtered, precipitated by car¬ 
bonate of potassa and dissolved by absolute alcohol. 
This second evaporation usually yielded the alkaloid crystallized, particularly from the 
fresh plants. In the case of liquid alkaloids, caustic instead of carbonate of potassa was 
taken, and ether in place of alcohol; after proving its identity, the quantity of the alka¬ 
loid was estimated by titration with oxalic acid. 
The comparative treatment of plants with alkaloids frequently gave very exact results, 
particularly when the alkaloids or their salts are crystallizable; this was less frequently 
the case when the plants contained no alkaloids and the active principle is incompletely 
cbdr^ctcnzcd 
2. Hants without alkaloids. The dry extract was treated with strong ether, and the 
filtrate evaporated spontaneously ; the undissolved portion was treated with a mixture of 
8 vol. strong ether and 2 vol. 95 per cent, alcohol, and the filtrate evaporated spon¬ 
taneously. The residue was treated with cold distilled water, and the liquid evaporated 
over sulphuric acid. . 
The table on the following page contains the results obtained by the author with 
the most important drugs. _ 
The leaves of Anemone Pulsatilla , collected in April, yielded fresh, but not dried, ane- 
monin, little amorphous alkaloid, and a yellow, very acrid resinous matter. 
Chelidonium majus (herb), collected in July, yielded, after drying, only chelidonina, 
but no chelerythrina. # . 
Nicotiana Tabacurn (leaves), collected in July, yielded two grin, pure nicotina; after 
drying scarcely half the quantity. 
Digitalis purpurea (leaves, June). The extract yielded to alcoholic ether 0‘60 grm. 
* Condensed from Wittstein’s Vierteljahresschr. fur prakt. Pharm. 1869, p. 73-110. The 
author, who died Dec. 1, 1866, was by the Societe Royale des Sciences Medicales et Naturelles 
de Bruxelles, awarded a gold medal for this essay, which was published in Journ. de Med. 
de Brux. 1867 and 1868. 
