June 22, 1372.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
1031 
their physiological and therapeutic properties. In former 
-experiments * the dried leaf was found to contain 3 per 
cent, of a fatty matter, coloured by chlorophyll, giving 
off strongly the odour peculiar to the poisonous Sola - 
nacea; the dried root does not contain more than 1 per 
•cent, of this matter, coloured yellow, with an odour 
equally nauseous, but not so pronounced. The nature 
of this poisonous principle, and the part that it plays in 
the preparations which contain it, is a subject worthy of 
investigation. Without doubt, plants produce upon the 
;animal economy physiological effects as much more de¬ 
cisive as their chemical composition is itself more pro¬ 
nounced ; but it must not be forgotten that their special 
therapeutical properties are often as much due to the 
combined action of the constituent principles as to the 
predominance of one. So that, considering the difference 
•existing in the [composition of the belladonna leaf and 
±he root, it is difficult to make a comparison between 
Them as to their therapeutic action, and they should 
anther be looked upon as relatively than absolutely 
rfiimilar. 
From the manner in which the plant is developed, 
•there is great difficulty in fixing the time of the year 
when the atropine is present in the root in the largest 
proportion. It is well known that the belladonna plant 
forms each year one or more fresh roots that soon 
acquire considerable size, partly at the expense of the 
•old ones, which are thus deprived of a portion of their 
atropine. As the belladonna plant lives at least from 
eight to twelve years, according to the nature of the soil, 
it follows that there is great variation in the composition 
of these roots. 
In France the collection and selection of the roots are 
• carried on by persons badly qualified for the work. The 
wild roots are gathered at any time; and, provided that 
they be not too spongy, are handed over just as they are 
to the dealer, who contents himself with cleaning them, 
.splitting the larger roots to facilitate their drying. The 
•cultivated roots are collected in an equally defective 
manner. When the plants are old, and produce few 
leaves, they are pulled up in order to replace them by 
new plants, and the portion of the roots that is not hol¬ 
low is taken; so that the produce which comes into the 
.hands of the druggist consists of roots of every size and 
-age and extremely variable in the proportion of atro¬ 
pine they contain. Analyses of roots of different ages 
.gave the following results :—- 
Atropine in 100 grams of dried powder. 
Root 2 to 3 Eoot 7 to 8 
Experiment. years old. years old. 
Gram. Gram. 
1 . 0-4718 . . 0-2541 
2 . 0-4886 . . 0-3128 
These numbers show the mean result; since, while some 
loots contained less than three grams per kilogram, 
■others contained more than five grams. One specimen, 
said to have come from the Swiss mountains, yielded 
.nearly six grams, the largest proportion that was met 
with. This variation would seem to indicate that, with 
regard to the atropine, the leaf is more trustworthy than 
.the root. 
For a considerable time French manufacturers of 
atropine have preferred the German or Swiss roots to 
'those collected in their own country. This preference 
the author considers, from experiments, to be due, not so 
much to the difference in the root, as to the care with 
which the collection is conducted. The belladonna root 
• differs much from that of other herbaceous or perennial 
plants containing powerful alkaloids, such as henbane, 
stramonium, or aconite. In the aconite, for instance, 
M. Duquesnel has found f that the root contains more 
aconitine than the leaf; but whilst the aconite root does 
* Journal de Pharm. et de Chirnie [4], vol. xi. p. 102. 
.+ See ante , p.663. 
not grow much larger than the thumb, the belladonna 
root grows with such rapidity that it is not unfrequently 
met with as large as the arm. It is well known that in 
very large roots the cortical part is less abundant in pro¬ 
portion than in smaller roots. A kilogram of belladonna 
roots eight or nine years of age would contain about 300 
grams of bark; the same weight of three-year old roots 
would contain about 400 grams. So that, as the bark, both 
of the root and the stem, always contains a larger propor¬ 
tion of the active principle than the medullary layers, 
this difference of 25 per cent, of bark in favour of young 
roots explains the foregoing results of analyses. 
The principal conclusions drawn from this part of the 
investigation are :—(1) that in general composition the 
root differs notably from the leaf; (2) that the older the 
root is, the smaller the proportion of atropine that it 
contains; (3) that though the root is frequently richer 
in atropine than the leaf, the proportion is much more 
variable, and therefore the leaf would have more uni¬ 
form therapeutic properties. 
CHINESE CHEMICAL MANUFACTURES. * 
BY E. POUTER SMITH, M.B. 
(Concluded from page 1009.) 
The ashes of Polygonum plants, forming a rough 
salt of potash, were formerly used as a flux for minerals, 
and as an addition to cane-juice to neutralize the acid 
present. This latter purpose is now fulfilled by using 
lime, a chemical substance formerly handled by experi¬ 
menters. Sulphate of soda, named liicunming-fen after 
Liu Hieun-chin , the Glauber of Chinese alchemy, who 
flourished during the reign of the second Tang emperor, • 
has received much attention at the hands of Chinese 
operators, who give minute and ridiculous directions for 
the purification of this salt, which is found as an efflo¬ 
rescence upon the ground of some parts of the country. 
It is, naturally enough, confounded with the natural ni¬ 
trates of potash and soda so common in both China and 
India. It was anciently believed to be one of the sub¬ 
stances capable of inducing longevity, and to be a pana¬ 
cea for most sicknesses. Sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom 
salts, is l-eferredto in the Pen Ts an as a “bitter nitre,” 
prepared from the mother-liquor of the salt-pans. Judg¬ 
ing from the deliquescent character of all the salt made or 
met with in China, the plan of removing this magnesian 
clement from the crude salt is not practised at the pre¬ 
sent time. The phenomena of deflagration and crack¬ 
ling of salts of potash and soda are so frequently re¬ 
ferred to in Chinese works as to lead us to believe that 
they practised something equivalent to our blowpipe ex¬ 
aminations of substances. The use of fire to distinguish 
arsenical substances, such as black (metallic) arsenic, 
white arsenic (arsenious acid), and yellow arsenic (orpi- 
ment), as by the varying smell of these substances, 
indicates a step in the direction of practical chemistry. 
Passing on to alum, as the last of these alkalies, or alka¬ 
line earths, we touch upon an interesting subject. The 
making of alum, as at Wan-chau-fu in Chehkiang pro¬ 
vince, from the alum-shale of the hills of that prefecture, 
is an extensive business. The alum is exceedingly pure 
and exceedingly cheap. . Its uses in sizing paper, in 
making mucilage, and in many chemical and economical 
processes are even less important than its employment 
day by day in the purification of drinking-water—a 
chemical operation. The Chinese formerly employed 
carbonate of soda for this purpose, thereby yielding a 
much softer water than the alum process does. The 
author of the Pen Ts'au curiously enough recommends 
the use of leaden vessels to hold water, liable to pro¬ 
duce goitre. 
* Reprinted from ‘Transactions of the North China 
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.’ 
