202 
Hyoscyamus  Muticus. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1908. 
oped,  the  leaves  become  less  and  less  and  the  seed  vessels  more  and 
more  numerous.  A  plant  growing  in  coarse  sandy  soil  will  some- 
times ripen  5,ODO  seed  pods.  Though  each  pod  may  well  contain 
ioo  seed  grains,  the  plant  does  not,  in  coarse  sandy  situations,  cover 
any  large  area  of  ground.  Under  similar  circumstances  any  kind  of 
erodium  will  fill  whole  valleys.  But  the  muticus  always  remains 
sporadic.  It  will,  therefore,  not  be  surprising  to  find  that  the  plant 
is  difficult  to  grow.  The  seeds  germinate,  but  an  enormous  per- 
centage do  not  reach  a  height  of  three  inches.  The  plant  does  not 
bear  submersion,  and  such  plants  as  spring  up  in  ground  flooded  by 
the  high  Nile  are  strictly  annual.  But  those  above  reach  of  water 
attain  an  age  of  from  three  to  five  or  perhaps  six  years,  giving  each 
year  more  seeds  and  fewer  leaves.  It  has  yet  to  be  ascertained 
whether  a  five  years'  plant  contains  more  alkaloid  than  a  first 
year's  plant." 
Recently  a  large  quantity  of  henbane  appeared  on  the  American 
market,  which  contained  an  extremely  high  percentage  of  alkaloid. 
An  examination  of  different  parts  of  the  plant  gave  the  following 
results : 
As  the  Egyptian  variety  of  Hyoscyamus  muticus  is  the  only 
species  of  henbane  known  to  contain  alkaloid  in  such  proportions,  it 
was  surmised  that  the  drug  consisted  of  the  above  species.  This 
proved  to  be  the  case,  the  plant  being  identified  as  Hyoscyamus 
muticus. 
In  order  to  ascertain  if  the  active  principle  consisted  of  one  or 
more  of  the  mydriatics,  a  quantity  of  alkaloid  was  separated  by  the 
following  process : 
Four  thousand  grammes  of  the  powdered  drug  was  percolated 
with  94  per  cent,  alcohol  until  nearly  exhausted.  The  percolate  was 
concentrated  to  a  thick  syrupy  liquid  in  vacuo  and  the  alkaloid 
shaken  out  with  2  per  cent,  hydrochloric  acid.  The  acid  solution  was 
filtered,  made  alkaline  with  ammonia  and  shaken  out  repeatedly  with 
chloroform.    The  chloroformic  solution  was  then  extracted  with  2 
Percentage 
of  Alkaloid. 
Whole  drug 
o75 
0-  83 
o  48 
1-  34 
1-17 
Root 
Stem 
Leaf 
Seed 
