HYOSCY AMINE. 
§§ 465, 4 6 6.] 
401 
as basic ion is [a] D —32-5° in aqueous solution (Carr and Reynolds). 1 
Dehydrating agents convert it into belladonnine (atropamine), 
Ci 7 H 22 N0 2 . Hyoscyamine saponified with hot water gives laevo- 
tropic acid and tropine, but if saponified by acids or alkalies this 
laevo-tropic acid is converted into the racemic or inactive form. The 
gold salt melts at 159°, and does not melt in boiling water like the 
atropine gold salt. 
§ 465. Pharmaceutical and other Preparations of Henbane. —The 
leaves are alone official in the British Pharmacopoeia ; but the seeds 
and the root, or the flowers, may be met with occasionally, especially 
among herbalists. The table 2 (p. 399) will give an idea of the alkaloidal 
content of the different parts of the plant. 
In order to ascertain the percentage of the alkaloid in any part of 
the plant, the process followed by Thorey has the merit of simplicity. 
The substance is first exhausted by petroleum ether, which frees it from 
fat; after drying, it is extracted with 85 per cent, alcohol at a tempera¬ 
ture not exceeding 40°. The alcoholic extracts are then united, the 
alcohol distilled off, and the residue filtered. The filtrate is now first 
purified by agitation with petroleum ether, then saturated by ammonia, 
and shaken up with chloroform. The latter, on evaporation, leaves the 
alkaloid only slightly impure, and, after washing with distilled water, 
if dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid, a crystalline sulphate may be 
readily obtained. 
Extract Of Henbane. —This is made from the leaves by percolation 
with 70 per cent, alcohol; the extract is dealt with and titrated 
similarly to that of belladonna (p. 386), and adjusted so that it contains 
0-3 per cent, of alkaloids. 
Tincture of Hyoscyamus. —100 grins, of leaves percolated by 1000 
millilitres of 70 per cent, alcohol. The tincture is therefore not 
standardised, and varies in alkaloidal strength. 
The oil of hyoscyamus is poisonous, and contains the alkaloid. An 
exact quantitative research is difficult ; but if 20 grms. of the oil are 
shaken up for some time with water acidified by sulphuric acid, the 
fluid separated from the oil, made alkaline, shaken up with chloroform, 
and the latter removed and evaporated, sufficient will be obtained to 
test successfully for the presence of the alkaloid, by its action on the 
pupil of the eye. 
§ 466. Dose and Effects. —The dose of the uncrystalline hyoscyamine 
is 6 mgrms. ( T ^ grain). The senior author has seen it extensively 
used in asylums to calm violent or troublesome maniacs. 32 mgrms. 
1 Commercial hyoscyamine is seldom the pure Z-base possessing the highest degree 
of physiological activity, but mixed with a considerable quantity of the racemic base— 
atropine.—Carr and Reynolds, Journ. Chem. Soc., 1910. 
2 This table, taken from Dragendorff’s Chemische W erthbestimmung einiger stark- 
wirkenden Droguen, embodies the researches of Thorey. 
26 
