Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
November,  1900.  J 
Notes  on  the  Culture  of  Drugs. 
535 
The  net  results  at  the  end  of  three  months  (when  the  experiments 
had  to  be  discontinued  because  of  rilling  of  the  ground)  were  plants 
of  sturdy  growth  from  1 8  to  30  inches  high,  large  leaves  of  good 
color  and  appearance,  roots  about  10  to  17  inches  long,  some  ^ 
inch  in  circumference  when  green,  drying  to  about  half  this  size. 
I  am  firmly  of  the  opinion  that  belladonna  can  be  cultivated  success- 
fully in  these  latitudes  with  very  little  trouble  and  expense,  and  that 
the  plant  will  in  course  of  time  become  adapted  to  our  soil  and 
climate. 
Hyoscyamus. — The  seeds  for  hyoscyamus  were  from  Mr.  Lochman, 
of  Bethlehem,  Pa.  They  were  planted  at  the  same  time  as  the 
belladonna,  those  planted  on  May  14th,  only,  coming  up.  The 
plants  rapidly  increased  in  size,  and  by  the  end  of  August  were  cov- 
ered with  large  leaves  and  were  in  full  bloom.  I  allowed  some  of 
them  to  remain  and  from  these  have  secured  quite  a  quantity  of 
seed,  the  leaves  drying  up  on  the  plant.  The  conditions  as  to  soil, 
exposure,  etc.,  were  about  the  same  as  for  belladonna,  with  the 
same  results,  only  hyoscyamus  seems  to  thrive  much  better  than 
belladonna,  the  plants  reaching  maturity  a  month  or  so  earlier. 
Hyoscyamus  can  be  grown  easily  here,  and  will  give  good  results 
as  to  leaves,  root,  etc. 
Carthamus. — This  plant,  I  am  told,  is  now  a  common  flower 
in  up-State  gardens ;  anyway,  it  flourished  with  me  as  if  to  the 
manor  born,  and  the  only  trouble  I  had  with  it  was  to  keep  the 
flowers  picked  fast  enough  to  permit  of  a  new  growth.  On  the 
average, from  each  flower  I  got  I  gramme  of  dried  petals,  etc.,  which 
yielded  a  fine  yellow  color  to  alcohol  and  water,  water  extracting 
the  most  of  the  coloring. 
Aconite. — The  seeds  of  aconite  came  through  the  Department  of 
Agriculture.  Unfortunately,  not  a  single  one  rooted,  and  I  could 
not  get  a  result  with  any  sort  of  soil  or  planting.  I  believe  tubers 
will  have  to  be  planted  to  get  any  growth. 
Bismuth  in  Organic  Preparations  can  only  be  determined,  according  to 
Gaebler  [Pharm.  Zeit.,  1900,  p.  567),  by  rather  distinct  methods  for  each  sub- 
stance. In  bismuth  oxyiodogallate  (airol)  the  bismuth  is  precipitated  as 
oxalate  ;  bismuth  /3-naphtholate  (orphol)  can  be  safely  ignited  and  the  bis- 
muth determined  ;  with  bismuth  salicylate,  incineration,  extraction  of  the 
residue  with  nitric  acid  and  ignition  is  quite  accurate  ;  bismuth  tri-bromphenol 
(xeroform)  is  treated  with  strong  nitric  acid,  precipitated  with  ammonium  car- 
bonate and  the  precipitate  converted  into  Bi208. 
