Jan. 13,1923 
Poisonous Properties of Bikukulla cucullaria 
73 
The object of the study here reported was to determine what constitu¬ 
ents of the plants were responsible for their toxic effect, and as it was 
known that both contained alkaloids it was obviously necessary to isolate 
and test the toxicity of these compounds. As a preliminary experiment 
a few grams of the ground roots of the two plants were allowed to macerate 
in Prolius’ solution for 48 hours. The solution was then decanted and 
evaporated spontaneously until nearly dry, and the residue was extracted 
with dilute hydrochloric acid. Both these solutions gave a heavy precipi¬ 
tate when tests were made with Mayer’s reagent, showing the presence of 
alkaloids. The acid solutions were then made strongly ammoniacal, 
which threw down some of the dissolved material as a white flocculent 
precipitate, and were shaken out exhaustively with ether. After the 
ether evaporated, the residue was again taken up with very dilute hydro¬ 
chloric acid. One-half cc. of each of these two solutions, which repre¬ 
sented the raw alkaloids of Bikukulla cucullaria and B. canadensis , was 
injected subcutaneously into two'white mice. The animal receiving the 
dose of B. canadensis gave some slight evidence of narcosis but suffered 
no other ill effects. The mouse injected with the B. cucullaria extract 
also behaved in a sleepy manner for some time and died unobserved 
inside of two hours. Another mouse was then given a similar injection 
of the same B. cucullaria extract, and his reactions were carefully fol¬ 
lowed. The animal showed no striking symptoms in the course of an 
hour, then suddenly grew restless for a few minutes, was seized with 
acute convulsions, and died almost immediately. These results seemed 
to indicate that the roots of B. cucullaria were poisonous, whereas those 
of B. canadensis were harmless, but upon further investigation this 
conclusion was modified. 
An approximate assay of the total alkaloids in the material which was 
available, namely, the tops and roots of Bikukulla cucullaria and the 
roots of B. canadensis was undertaken as follows: Of each of these three 
samples 5 gm., dried and finely ground, were macerated for 48 hours in 
50 cc. of Prolius’ solution, the solution was decanted off and the residue 
washed with a little alcohol and added to the solution, which was then 
extracted with 50 cc. of 5 per cent H 2 S 0 4 in three portions. The acid 
extract was made alkaline with ammonia and shaken out exhaustively 
with ether. The ether solution was distilled to small bulk, transferred 
to a tared beaker, and allowed to evaporate spontaneously, whereupon it 
was completely dried in a desiccator and weighed. Table II shows the 
results of the three determinations. 
Table II.—Away of total alkaloids found in Bikukulla cucullaria and B. canadensis 
Weight 
Plant. 
of 
Alkaloid. 
Character of residue. 
plant. 
Per 
B. cucullaria: 
Gm. 
Gm. 
cent. 
Tops. 
5 1 
0. 062 
1. 24 
Amorphous. 
Roots. 
5 I 
. 080 
1. 60 
Amorphous, with some needles. 
B. canadensis: 
1 
Roots. 
5 1 
• 157 
3 - T 4 
Amorphous, with rosettes. 
