842 
Stems  in  Belladonna  Herb. 
Am.  Tour.  Pharm. 
Dec,  1918. 
"A  study  of  the  table  or  of  Graph  I  will  show  that  in  the  small- 
est sprouts  cut,  the  1st  stage,  the  stems  represented  18  per  cent,  of 
the  total  dry  weight.  As  growth  continued  this  percentage  gradu- 
ally increased  until  it  reached  41.58  per  cent,  at  the  eighth  stage. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  although  the  first  material  was  picked  when 
the  stems  were  only  9  to  14  cm.  long  the  percentage  which  these  rep- 
resent of  the  total  dry  weight  is  8  per  cent,  more  than  allowed  by  the 
Pharmacopoeia.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  in  order  to  comply 
with  the  official  description  of  belladonna  herb  machine  harvested 
material  cannot  be  used  as  such  and  must  be  resorted  or  stripped.  It 
would  seem  therefore  that  the  change  made  in  the  last  revision  of 
the  Pharmacopoeia  has  not  been  as  great  an  aid  in  the  matter  of  har- 
vesting belladonna  as  might  be  desired. 
The  question  naturally  arises  whether  it  would  be  possible  to  in- 
crease the  permissible  percentage  of  stems  in  the  herb  without 
greatly  decreasing  the  therapeutic  value  of  the  herb.  In  order  to 
determine  this  point  the  above  samples  of  leaves  and  stems  and 
whole  herb  were  in  each  case  assayed  for  total  alkaloids  and  the  per- 
centage of  alcoholic  extract  was  determined.  Ash  determinations 
were  also  made  to  determine  whether  the  ash  content  of  the  herb 
could  be  used  as  a  basis  for  judging  the  percentage  of  stems  present. 
The  percentage  of  alcoholic  extract  was  determined  by  means  of 
the  process  described  under  "  Extractum  Belladonnas  Foliorum  "  of 
the  Pharmacopoeia.  The  extract  was  heated  on  a  water  bath  until 
of  constant  weight  and  the  percentage  thus  determined.  No  assay 
of  these  extracts  were  made.  The  results  are  given  in  Table  II  and 
Graphs  II  and  III. 
TABLE  II. 
Percentage  of  Ash,  Alcoholic  Extracts,  and  Total  Alkaloids  in  the 
Stems,  Leaves,  and  Whole  Herb  at  the  Different  Stages. 
Ash. 
Alcoholic  Extract. 
Total  Alkaloids. 
Stage. 
Leaves, 
Stem, 
Whole 
Herb, 
Leaves, 
Stem, 
Whole 
Herb, 
Leaves, 
Stem, 
Whole 
Herb, 
Per  Cent. 
Per  Cent. 
Per  Cent. 
Per  Cent. 
Per  Cent. 
Per  Cent. 
Per  Cent. 
Per  Cent. 
Per  Cent. 
I 
12.36 
16.68 
12.17 
42.7 
44.O 
43-0 
0-737 
O.898 
0.756 
2 
11.74 
18. II 
14.24 
4O.4 
40.3 
38.1 
•733 
.851 
•759 
3 
I2.l6 
17.52 
14.29 
42.4 
40.4 
39-5 
.677 
•759 
•733 
4 
12.77 
18.79 
14.63 
41.4 
36.1 
37-7 
.658 
.620 
.673 
5 
11-59 
13-88 
12.82 
37-3 
30.6 
38.1 
.650 
■455 
.498 
6 
13.79 
18.10 
14.61 
38.1 
31-4 
34-9 
.610 
.481 
.589 
7 
I2.6l 
13-63 
13. II 
37-1 
28.0 
28.6 
•537 
.417 
.494 
8 
12.02 
9.78 
8.32 
32.1 
18. 1 
24.9 
.712 
.170 
•471 
