8 
Substitute  for  Ethyl  Alcohol. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I    January,  1900. 
put  together  and  made  up  to  500  c.c.  from  the  next  following  per- 
colate, the  differences  taken,  the  percentage  of  extract  and  chloro- 
form extract  taken,  and  the  percolate  assayed  for  the  percentage  of 
alkaloid  by  the  new  process,  the  drops  being  divided  roughly  in  the 
titration  so  as  to  bring  the  result  into  the  third  decimal  place  of 
percentage. 
All  these  results  are  summed  up  in  the  above  table. 
This  powdered  belladonna  root  gave,  on  careful  assay  by  the 
older  process,  between  0-675  and  0*685  per  cent,  of  alkaloid  calcu- 
lated as  atropine,  and  it  is  accepted  as  being  very  near  to  a  mean 
of  0-68o  per  cent.  Then,  as  the  results  are  practically  the  same  by 
the  newer  process,  the  indication  is  confirmatory  of  both  processes 
and  of  their  common  result — 0'68o  per  cent. 
In  reviewing  the  table  a  very  remarkable  difference  is  shown  in 
both  the  rate  and  degree  of  exhaustion.  The  acetic  acid  men- 
struum extracts  more  than  three  times  as  much  in  the  earlier  frac- 
tions, and  exhausts  the  powder  more  rapidly  and  more  completely 
throughout. 
The  two  extracts  differ  in  the  same  direction,  both  in  rate  and 
degree,  so  that  it  is  surprising  to  find  the  alkaloids  differing  in  an 
opposite  direction. 
The  powder  contains  0'68o  per  cent,  of  alkaloids. 
The  first  500  c.c.  from  the  U.S. P.  menstruum  contains  93-23  per 
cent,  of  this. 
The  first  500  c.c.  from  the  acid  menstruum  contains  88-97  Per 
cent,  of  this. 
The  second  500  c.c.  from  the  U.S.P.  menstruum  contains  5-29 
per  cent,  of  this. 
The  second  500  c.c.  from  the  acid  menstruum  contains  10  58  per 
cent,  of  this. 
The  third  500  c.c.  from  the  U.S.P,  menstruum  contains  1-03  per 
cent,  ol  this. 
The  third  500  c.c.  from  the  acid  menstruum  contains  o-88  per 
cent,  of  this. 
The  fourth  500  c.c.  from  the  U.S.P.  menstruum  contains  0-88  per 
cent,  of  this. 
The  fourth  500  c.c.  from  the  acid  menstruum  contains  0-74  per 
cent,  of  this. 
Sum  of  the  percentages  U.S.P.,  100-43  ;  acid,  101*17  per  cent. 
