284 
Tincture  of  Hyoseyamus. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1884. 
adherent  aqueous  liquid.  The  chloroform  is  then  evaporated  over  a 
water-bath  until  the  weight  of  the  atropine  and  hyoscyamine  is  con- 
stant, which  usually  occupies  a  little  less  than  one  hour. 
The  special  features  which  distinguish  this  process  are,  (1)  it  is  simple 
and  accurate;  (2)  a  high  temperature  is  avoided;  (3)  the  solvent 
employed  extracts  a  minimum  of  non-alkaloidal  constituents;  (4)  no 
precipitants  arf;  used ;  (5)  the  use  of  acids  is  avoided ;  (6)  the  alkaloids 
are  not  heated  with  alkalies. 
The  root  of  Atropa  belladonna  grown  at  Hitchin  and  carefully  dried 
at  100°  F.  yielded  0*38  per  cent,  of  total  alkaloid  (atropine  and  hyos- 
cyamine) when  estimated  by  this  process.  Other  specimens  estimated 
in  the  same  way  yielded  0*39  per  cent,  and  0*35  per  cent,  of  total 
alkaloid. 
The  work  connected  with  this  investigation  has  been  aided  by  a 
grant  from  the  Research  Fund  of  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Con- 
ference. In  a  future  communication  we  propose  to  show  how  this 
process  can  be  applied  to  the  estimation  of  the  atropine  and  hyoscya- 
mine in  other  parts  of  the  plant. — Pharm.  Jour,  and  Transactions, 
February  9,  1884,  p.  623. 
NOTES  ON  TINCTURE  OF  HYOSCYAMUS.1 
By  William  Gilmour. 
Some  time  ago  I  had  a  sample  of  tincture  of  hyoseyamus  given  me 
to  examine,  which  had  a  peculiar  odor  not  at  all  characteristic  of  this 
tincture,  and  which  also  gave  on  the  addition  of  water  a  milkiness 
much  more  decided  than  anything  I  had  ever  previously  observed 
with  hyoseyamus.  It  is  sometimes  not  easy  to  distinguish  a  familiar 
odor  if  cunningly  masked,  but  here  there  was  little  difficulty,  particu- 
larly on  diluting  the  tincture  with  water,  in  discovering  the  all-pervad- 
ing odor  of  balsam  of  copaivi,  and  the  supposition  was  that  the  hyos- 
eyamus leaves  from  which  the  tincture  had  been  prepared  were  annual 
leaves  and  had  been  sophisticated  with  the  balsam  so  as  to  give  the 
heavy  odor  and  the  milky  opacity  on  the  addition  of  water,  character- 
istic of  a  tincture  prepared  from  the  biennial  leaves.  The  idea  was  an 
ingenious  one,  particularly  if  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  annual  hyoscy- 
i  Read  at  an  Evening  Meeting  of  the  North  British  Branch  of  the  Phar- 
maceutical Society,  March  19,  1884. 
