Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
March,  1914. 
Alkaloids  in  Belladonna  Plant. 
107 
separated  into  bark,  wood,  and  pith.  The  roots  also  were  much 
smaller  than  in  the  older  plants  and  were  therefore  not  separated 
into  large  and  small  roots. 
In  assaying  the  seeds  it  was  necessary  first  to  extract  the  fixed 
oil  with  petroleum  ether.  The  percentage  of  alkaloids,  however,  as 
given  in  Table  III,  is  calculated  on  the  basis  of  the  whole  seeds. 
Table  IV. 
Summary  Showing  Comparison  of  Percentages  of  Alkaloids  in  Different  Parts 
of  the  Six  Plants. 
Part  of  plant 
Alkaloids  (per  cent.) 
Plant 
No.  1 
Plant 
No.  2 
Plant 
No.  3 
Plant 
No.  4 
Plant 
No.  5 
Plant  Klf^Q 
No.  6      °f  a" 
1  plants 
Fraction 
of  average 
total 
alkaloids 
in  6  plants 
Leaves  
Small  
Large  
Young  sprouts 
Fruit  
Calyx  
Berries .... 
Seeds. . . . 
Husks .  .  . 
Stems  
Small  
Large  
Roots  
Entire  plant. . 
o.53i 
569 
479 
799 
269 
085 
302 
344 
153 
098 
121 
072 
432 
0.619 
654 
586 
953 
299 
361 
152 
399 
479 
178 
118 
158 
072 
346 
0.514 
548 
448 
877 
302 
085 
343 
39i 
160 
o73 
093 
059 
397 
0.736 
698 
772 
032 
373 
211 
409 
441 
283 
140 
179 
108 
45o 
288 
0.913 
890 
938 
052 
333 
221 
370 
409 
233 
144 
177 
099 
524 
379 
405 
803 
794 
808 
876 
277 
139 
305 
320 
259  I 
114 
167 
055 
472 
340  .3430 
6860 
6922 
6718 
9315 
3192 
1488 
3572 
3973 
2110 
1 145 
1492 
0775 
4605 
22 . 10 
12.05 
10.05 
9-53 
27.84 
1 .99 
25-85 
22.25 
3.60 
11 .41 
7.65 
3-76 
29.11 
A  critical  review  of  Tables  I  to  IV  leads  to  the  conclusion  first 
of  all  that  in  a  general  way  the  distribution  of  alkaloids  in  the 
different  parts  of  belladonna  plants  is  largely  the  same  in  different 
individual  plants.  While  it  is  probably  unwise  to  draw  definite 
conclusions  from  the  limited  number  of  plants  here  analyzed,  the 
results  are  without  doubt  largely  indicative  of  what  would  be  found 
were  analyses  made  of  many  more  plants.  Gerard  2  has  found  that 
in  both  wild  and  cultivated  belladonna  plants  the  leaves,  roots,  fruit, 
2  Gerard,  A.  W.  Report  on  the  alkaloidal  value  of  cultivated  and  wild 
belladonna  plants,  Yearbook  of  Pharmacy,  1880-1881,  pp.  482-489. 
