030 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[Jane 22, 1872. 
^nd the root. Whilst according to the experiments of 
some authors, equal doses of the leaf and the root have 
appeared to possess properties absolutely identical, the 
experience of other observers has led them to consider 
the root to be more active and generally more constant 
In its results than the leaf. 
In seeking for the origin of this divergence of opinion 
some points must be considered to which it is probably 
to be attributed : (1) the different times of the year at 
which the leaf and root are collected ; (2) the great in¬ 
fluence the age of the plant has upon the formation of 
atropine; and (3) the notable difference in composition 
between the cultivated plant and that growing wild or 
in the woods. It appeared to the author that well- 
directed laboratory experiments would best solve these 
questions, and he, therefore, undertook a great number 
of very minute analyses, the results of which are given 
in the present memoir. 
1. General Method of Analysis. 
Reviewed in a general aspect the dry belladonna leaf 
is composed of cellulose, chlorophyll, a salt of atropine, 
a nauseous poisonous principle, and a fatty or waxy sub- 
stance characteristic of all vegetables. The root, on the 
•contrary, is principally represented by cellulose, starch, 
inuline, asparagine, the nauseous fatty matters and a 
salt of atropine. 
Atropine having hitherto been considered the essential 
principle to which all parts of the belladonna plant owe 
.their therapeutic and physiological properties, the best 
method of estimating that alkaloid was sought. In the 
first place recourse was had to tannin and iodide of pot- 
.assium, which produce with atropine precipitates that 
.are very insoluble in water; but in studying carefully 
the composition of these deposits, it was found that they 
contained foreign matters that could not be separated by 
washing. 
MM. Winckler, Planta, Richenau and Mayer have 
pointed out that the double iodide of mercury and pot¬ 
assium, or iodhydrargyrate of potash, is the reagent that 
best precipitates the vegetable alkaloids from aqueous 
solutions in the presence of colouring and other matters 
•existing in the plant. The experience of the author in 
the examination of decoctions of the leaves and roots of 
belladonna is confirmatory of the observations of those 
•chemists, the solution employed by him in all his analyses 
being— 
Corrosive Sublimate . 4*50 grams. 
Iodide of Potassium . 16*25 “ 
Distilled Water. 50*00 “ 
In order correctly to compare the quantities of iodhy- 
drrargyrate of atropine furnished by the leaves and roots 
in different stages of growth, the analyses were conducted 
under conditions absolutely identical in all cases. 100 
grams of the root or leaf was reduced to an impalpable 
powder, and completely dried in a stove. It was then 
treated with lukewarm rectified spirit until exhausted of 
all principles soluble in that vehicle. The greater part 
of the spirit was then distilled off, the residue heated in 
•a water-bath to drive off' the last traces of alcohol, and 
sufficient distilled water added to make an aqueous solu¬ 
tion of 50 c. c. To this solution, filtered, *was added the 
solution of iodhydrargyrate of potassium in slight excess, 
and the precipitate of iodhydrargyrate of atropine so 
formed collected on a weighed filter washed, dried, and 
fused in a platinum capsule. On cooling, the product 
was hard, transparent, brown, undecomposed by air, in¬ 
soluble in water, but very soluble in alcohol. 
The quantity of pure atropine present was then easily 
■calculated, theory giving the proportion of the alkaloid 
in 100 parts of the iodhydrargyrate as 33*25. The 
author considers this method of estimating the quantity 
•of atropine far preferable to those based upon its pro¬ 
duction in the free state, since he has found that the 
.alkaloid is always more or less altered by the chemical 
agents used for its isolation. 
2. Atropine in the Leaves. 
The author’s attention was directed first to ascertaining 
the time of the year at which the leaves of the belladonna 
plant are usually collected, and he found that both from 
the wild and the cultivated plant the gathering takes 
place through the months of May and June on to the 
end of August ;* that is to say before, during and after 
the flowering of the plant. The first question to decide, 
therefore, was whether the leaf collected in the spring 
was as rich in atropine as that collected in the middle or 
at the finish of the summer. Some leaves, therefore, 
were obtained that were gathered from plants cultivated 
in the neighbourhood of Paris in the month of May,— 
that is to say, before the flowering,—and another part 
gathered in August at the time the berries commence to 
ripen. These too kinds of leaves gave the following 
results:— 
Atropine in 
100 grams 
of dry powder . 
May 
August 
Experiment. 
leaves. 
leaves. 
Gram. 
Gram. 
X • • • • • 
0*418 . 
.0*457 
2 • • • •• • 
0*405 . 
.0-443 
3. 
0*421 . 
.0*467 
4 . 
0*392 . 
.0*482 
These analyses show that the belladonna leaf is less 
rich in atropine in the spring than after the floral organs 
have faded. It is true that the difference is so slight 
that there would be some difficulty in distinguishing be¬ 
tween the physiological action of the two kinds; but the 
author considers that if the collection were not to take 
place till July or August, the results would be a medici¬ 
nal agent nearly invariable in composition and posses¬ 
sing the largest quantity of the active principle. 
Another question not less important was to determine 
the influence that cultivation exercised upon the pro¬ 
portion of atropine. Towards the end of July, therefore, 
one portion of leaves was obtained from plants cultivated 
in the neighbournood of Paris, and another from wild 
plants growing in the forest of Compiegne. These 
yielded the following results:— 
Atropine in 100 grams of dry powder. 
Cultivated Wild 
Experiment. leaf. leaf. 
Gram. Gram. 
1 0*470 . . 0*459 
2 0*485 . . 0*47" 
So that, from these analyses, it appears that cultivation 
neither lessens nor increases the quantity of atropine, 
and that the medical man may have equal confidence in 
the leaf from the cultivated and from the wild plant, 
provided they are gathered at the same season of the 
year. 
The conclusions drawn from the experiments on this 
part of the subject are :—(1) that the belladonna leaf is 
less rich in atropine before than after the flowering of 
the plant; (2) that its collection should always be made 
between the flowering and fructification; and (3) that 
the leaf of the wild and the cultivated plant contain 
identically the same proportions of atropine when 
gathered at the same time of the year. 
3. Atropine in the Loots. 
It has previously been mentioned that, except in atro¬ 
pine, the composition of the leaf was far from resem¬ 
bling the root of the belladonna, and this is a fact im¬ 
portant to be remembered when it is sought to compare 
* Gonesse, Choisy-le-Roi and Orly are the principal locali¬ 
ties in the environs of Paris where the belladonna is specially 
cultivated. The leaf is not generally collected until the second 
year of the plant’s growth, and is continued during eight, 
ten, or even twelve years, according to the nature of the soil. 
The collection is made twice in the year: the first towards 
the end of May ; the second in August, or at the end of J uly. 
