144 
F lores  Daturce  Albce. 
/Am. Jour.  Pbarm. 
t     March,  1897. 
is  wise  not  to  attach  too  much  importance  to  this.  I  assayed  the 
flowers  only  once.  I  do  not  know  if  Mr.  Browne  repeated  his  analysis. 
If  I  had  obtained  a  higher  result  than  Mr.  Browne,  that  would  not 
have  been  proof  that  American-grown  Datura  alba  flowers  were 
richer  in  alkaloid  than  those  collected  in  China.  Neither  could  the 
reverse  be  argued  if  conditions  differed.  Let  us  take  it  simply  as 
a  contribution  in  favor  of  the  original  Van  der  Wal's  investigation, 
and  deduce  a  recommendation  to  our  U.  S.  P.  Revision  Committee 
from  it.  When  the  article,  Stramonii  folia,  is  revised  for  the  eighth 
decennial  revision,  I  would  like  to  see  it  read  "  Herba  Stramonii, 
collected  in  blossom,"  instead  of  folia  S.,  so  as  not  to  throwaway  the 
most  valuable  part  of  the  plant  any  longer. 
Assay. — The  flowers,  after  being  dried  without  the  application  of  any  artifi- 
cial heat,  were  reduced  to  a  fine  powder.  Fifty  grammes  of  this  air-dry  powder 
was  exhausted  by  percolation  with  alcohol  of  90  volume  per  cent.  Exhaustion 
was  proved  according  to  analytical  rules.  Alcohol  was  recovered  in  vacuo. 
Residue  was  taken  up  with  acidulated  water  (H2S04),  whereby  all  the  waxy 
and  resinous  matter  was  left  behind.  The  aqueous  fluid,  which  was  carefully 
kept  to  a  small  amount,  was,  in  a  separator,  thoroughly  washed  with  chloro- 
form, the  latter  removed.  The  fluid  was  made  alkaline  with  ammonia  water, 
agitated  again  with  chloroform.  This  was  collected  and  the  operation  repeated 
to  exhaustion.  The  chloroform  was  evaporated  spontaneously.  The  residue 
was  dissolved  in  acidulated  water,  because  the  alkaloid  was  not  pure  enough, 
washed  with  chloroform  ;  the  acid  fluid  being  made  alkaline  again,  yielded  to 
chloroform  an  amorphous,  nearly  colorless  residue,  which,  being  dried  over  sul- 
phuric acid  to  constant  weight,  weighed  0*232  gramme,  or  0*464  per  cent.  This 
was  dissolved  in  very  diluted  hydrochloric  acid,  precipitated  with  gold  chloride, 
the  precipitate  dissolved  in  slightly  acidulated  (HC1)  water  and  recrystallized 
from  boiling  water.  The  crystals  thereby  obtained  had  the  form  published  on 
page  67  of  Fliickiger's  Reaction,  American  edition.  "Hyoscin  goldchloride. " 
Dried  over  H3S04  in  vacuo.    M.p.,  5  determinations,  iQ2°  C. 
Atropine  goldchloride  has  a  melting  point  of  1370,  Hyoscyamine  goldchlor- 
ide a  melting  point  of  1600. 
An  extract  of  the  flowers  of  Datura  alba,  was  free  from  that  large  amount 
of  oil  that  bothers  one  so  much  in  Sol.  Ex.  Sem.  Stramonii,  U.S. P. 
Will  the  Revision  Committee  take  it  kindly  under  consideration  to  replace 
stramonium  seed  with  20  per  cent,  useless  fat,  by  stramonium  flowers  with 
hardly  any  ? 
Will  a  colorless  petrolatum  preparation  of  those  flowers  not  make  an  elegant 
substitute  for  the  unsightly  ointment? 
I  want  to  see  retained  in  our  U.S. P.  the  very  useful  Datura.  The  flowers  are 
stronger  than  the  seed. 
Conclusion. — I  have  made  arrangements  to  repeat  this  examina- 
tion on  a  larger  scale,  in  the  fall  of  1897,  and  will  plant  a  vacant  lot 
next  to  my  laboratory  with  Datura  alba. 
