Am.  Jour.  Pharm.") 
May,  1884.  j 
Alkaloids  in  Belladonna  Root 
281 
by  causing  swelling  of  the  root  and  consequent  clogging  of  the  appa- 
ratus, seriously  impeded  the  progress  of  percolation. 
In  these  experiments  the  root  was  exhausted  at  the  boiling  point  of 
the  solvent  (60°  —  80°  C).  Experiments  were  now  made  to  see 
whether  belladonna  could  be  efficiently  exhausted  by  a  mixture  of  equal 
parts  of  chloroform  and  alcohol  without  the  aid  of  heat;  but  it  was 
found  that  after  percolating  10  grams  of  the  finely  powdered  root  with 
150  cubic  centimetres  of  the  mixture  the  marc  still  contained  a  large 
amount  of  alkaloid,  and  it  was  evident  that  a  great  quantity  of  the 
solvent  would  be  required  for  complete  exhaustion.  This,  although 
not  an  insuperable  objection  is  a  practical  disadvantage,  and  having 
found  that  the  belladonna  root  could  be  so  well  exhausted  by  the  boil- 
ing solvent,  we  at  once  proceeded  to  examine  the  effect  of  a  boiling 
mixture  of  chloroform  and  alcohol  upon  atropine  under  the  conditions 
of  our  experiments,  and  so  to  discover  whether  the  alkaloid  would  be 
injuriously  affected  at  the  boiling  point  of  the  mixture.  Pure  atropine 
was  boiled  for  six  hours  in  an  apparatus  with  an  upright  condenser 
with  a  mixture  of  alcohol  and  chloroform.  The  mixture  was  then 
agitated  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid  and  the  alkaloid  recovered  from  the 
acid  liquid,  after  the  addition  of  ammonia,  by  chloroform.  The  follow- 
ing results  were  obtained : 
Atropine  Atropine 
taken.  found. 
a  0-085  0-084 
0  0-221  0-217 
y  0-199  0.197 
S   0-213  0-208 
The  small  differences  in  these  figures  are  obviously  accounted  for  by 
experimental  errors,  and  the  results,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  fact 
that  the  residues  were  normally  crystalline,  prove  that  atropine  is  not 
decomposed  or  chemically  altered  even  when  exposed  for  six  hours  at 
the  boiling  point  of  the  solvent  which  is  proposed  for  use.  We  were 
now  able  to  proceed  further  in  developing  the  process.  The  bella- 
donna root  was  now  able  to  be  exhausted  with  a  boiling  mixture  of 
chloroform  and  alcohol,  and  it  now  remained  to  isolate  the  alkaloid  in 
a  pure  state  from  the  solvent.  Dilute  acids  were  at  first  used  for  this 
purpose,  but  it  was  afterwards  discovered  that  the  whole  of  the  alka- 
loid could  be  withdrawn  from  the  chloroform-alcohol  mixture  by 
merely  agitating  with  water;  two  successive  treatments  with  water  in 
this  way  sufficed  to  remove  every  trace  of  the  alkaloids  from  the 
