2 
Substitute  for  Ethyl  Alcohol. 
/  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    January,  1900. 
made  with  acetic  acid  give  a  small  deposit  within  three  months — a 
proportion  not  greater  tl\an  from  alcoholic  menstrua,  and  that  the 
deposits  from  the  two  menstrua  are  equally  inert. 
In  selecting  a  third  drug  for  competitive  investigation  in  this 
paper,  belladonna  root  was  taken ;  first,  on  account  of  its  import- 
ance ;  second,  because  its  value  depends  on  the  proportion  of  a  defi- 
nite alkaloid  of  strong  saturating  power;  and,  third,  because  the 
writer  has  had  much  experience  with  it  through  many  years. 
In  September,  1885,  see  Ephemeris,  Vol.  II,  No.  11,  pp.  848  and 
853,  the  writer  published  papers  on  belladonna  leaf  and  belladonna 
root,  giving  an  assay  process  which,  with  slight  modifications  and 
with  the  addition  of  titration  of  the  results,  has  now  been  in  use 
for  about  fourteen  years.  This  process  is  believed  to  be  sufficiently 
accurate  for  all  practical  purposes,  and  is  therefore  adopted  as  the 
basis  of  this  paper.1 
An  abstract  of  this  process,  as  amended  in  recent  practice,  is  as 
follows : 
OLDER  ASSAY  PROCESS. 
Fifty  grammes  of  the  unpeeled  belladonna  root  in  No.  60  powder 
was  equally  moistened  with  30  c.c.  of  91  per  cent,  alcohol  to  which 
4  drops  of  concentrated  sulphuric  acid  had  been  previously 
added. 
The  moistened  powder  was  then  moderately  packed  in  a  narrow 
cylindrical  percolator  and  100  c.c.  of  91  per  cent,  alcohol,  acidulated 
with  4  drops  of  sulphuric  acid,  was  poured  on  top  as  fast  as  the 
percolator  would  hold  it,  a  stratum  of  the  menstruum  being  always 
kept  on  top.  As  soon  as  the  powder  was  completely  filled,  and 
dropping  began  from  below,  the  outlet  was  closed  and  a  digestion 
of  twenty-four  hours  was  allowed. 
The  percolation  was  then  started  and  maintained  at  a  slow  rate 
of  dropping,  stopping  overnight  for  a  new  digestion,  until  425  c.c. 
of  percolate  was  received.  The  farther  supply  on  top  was  100  c.c. 
more  of  the  alcohol  acidulated  with  4  drops  of  the  acid,  another  100 
1  The  use  of  a  good  process  of  assay  in  the  buying  of  an  important  drug 
through  a  series  of  years  is  well  illustrated  in  the  writer's  experience  with 
belladonna  root.  In  1885  the  best  root  of  the  market  gave  0*46  to  0*50  per 
cent,  of  alkaloids.  In  creating  a  demand  by  rejecting  lower  grade  samples  and 
calling  for  unpeeled  root  the  quality  obtainable  has  increased  from  about  0^50 
per  cent,  to  o'68  per  cent. 
