286 
Tincture  of  Hyoscyamus. 
(  Am.  Jour  Tharm. 
I       May,  1884. 
annual  henbane  proper;  and  the  root  leaves  of  the  biennial  plant, 
which  Mr.  Holmes  informs  me  usually  forms  the  annual  of  English 
commerce;  then  there  is  what  is  known  as  German  henbane,  and 
probably  a  whole  variety  known  somewhat  vaguely  as  exotic  henbane. 
Through  the  kindness  and  courtesy  of  Mr.  Holmes,  of  the  Museum 
department  of  the  Society  in  London,  I  received  samples  of  different 
kinds  of  henbane  (samples  of  these  as  well  as  tinctures  prepared 
from  them  are  on  the  table  and  may  be  examined  by  members), 
and  among  others,  one  sample  of  the  real  German  annual.  I  am  per- 
suaded, after  comparing  somewhat  minutely  this  sample  with  those  of 
the  commercial  received  by  favor  from  various  wholesale  houses,  that 
very  much  of  the  annual  henbane  at  present  in  circulation  is  of  German 
origin.  Be  this  as  it  may,  what  we,  as  practical  pharmacists,  have  to 
do  is  to  accept  and  judge  matters  as  we  actually  find  them,  and,  there- 
fore, I  have  to  point  out  that  of  all  the  annual  specimens  which  I  have 
examined,  I  have  not  found  one  which  did  not  give  a  spectrum  as 
well  defined  as  that  derived  from  any  specimen  of  the  biennial  plant. 
Indeed,  I  have  found  the  bands  of  the  spectrum  more  uniform  and 
and  more  decided  from  the  various  specimens  of  the  annual  plant 
which  I  have  examined,  than  I  have  found  from  an  equal  number  of 
specimens  of  the  biennial  plant.  We  must,  therefore,  once  for  all  give 
up  the  spectroscope  as  an  agent  for  distinguishing  the  one  from  the 
other. 
It  is  probably  not  in  the  power  of  every  one  to  apply  a  spectroscope 
to  his  tincture,  but  I  will  here  shortly  describe  how  a  rough  but  very 
fair  test  may  be  applied  to  this  tincture,  showing  its  age,  quality,  etc., 
without  going  to  the  expense  of  a  spectroscope. 
To  two  parts  of  tincture  in  a  test  tube,  add  one  part  ordinary  com- 
mercial benzole;  shake  thoroughly  and  allow  to  stand  for  a  short  time. 
The  benzole  will  be  found  to  separate,  taking  with  it  almost  every 
particle  of  green  coloring  matter,  leaving  after  a  time  a  clear  tincture 
beneath.  So  thoroughly  does  the  benzole  extract  the  chlorophyll  that 
it  leaves  scarcely  a  trace  of  a  dark  band  in  the  tincture  beneath,  and 
from  the  depth  of  the  green  solution  above  as  well  as  from  the  color  of 
the  brown  tincture  below  as  good  an  indication  will  be  given  of  the 
value  of  the  tincture  as  can  be  got  almost  from  the  spectroscope  itself. 
I  have  here  a  whole  series  of  test  tubes  filled  with  tinctures  thus 
treated,  and,  as  can  be  seen  at  once,  the  shades  of  color  vary  consider- 
ably, both  in  the  chlorophyll  solution  above  and  in  the  tincture  beneath. 
