BEST  .PART  OP  CONIUM  MACULATUM  FOR  MEDICINE.  463 
duced.  In  like  manner  B3,  C3,  D3,  and  A2,  B2,  C2  and  D2  were 
treated,  the  funnel  being  carefully  cleansed  between  the  perco- 
lations of  the  several  parcels.  The  same  amount  of  tincture  was 
thus  obtained  from  each,  made,  as  nearly  as  possible,  with  the 
same  menstruum. 
In  order  to  apply  the  re-agent  selected,  it  was  next  necessary 
to  get  rid  of  the  alcohol  in  the  specimens  to  be  tested.  A  certain 
definite  and  equal  portion  of  each  (20  cubic  centimetres,  or  be- 
tween 5  and  6  fluid  drachms)  was  taken,  the  same  amount  of  a 
watery  solution  of  oxalic  acid  added  to  each  portion  of  tincture 
taken,  which  was  then  evaporated  by  a  gentle  heat,  not  rising 
above  110°  F.,  to  approaching  dryness.  The  residues  were  then 
diluted  with  water  to  the  original  volume  of  20  c.  c.  each,  and 
afterwards  still  further  diluted,  as  occasion  required,  till  they 
each  were  affected  to  the  same  faint  degree  of  turbidity,  by  the 
application  of  the  test  liquid.  It  was  found  that  the  liquid  from 
the  leaves  of  the  plant,  just  in  full  flower,  admitted  of  a  dilution 
with  1J  times  its  volume  of  water.  That  from  the  leaves  from 
the  plant  gone  to  seed  bore  but  J  its  volume  of  water ;  that 
from  the  full  grown  seeds  required  dilution  with  7  volumes  of 
water,  and  that  from  the  immature  seeds  gave  a  perceptible  tur- 
bidity with  the  test  liquid  when  diluted  with  8  times  its 
volume  of  water,  making  the  comparative  strengths,  in  the  active 
principle,  as  follows  :  A3— 10,  B3=5  ;  C3=32,  and  D3— 36. 
These  experiments  showed  the  partly  grown  fruits  to  be  the 
most  active  portion  of  the  plant.  The  tinctures  made  from  the 
several  parcels  of  leaves  and  seeds  after  drying,  gave  very  un- 
expectedly the  same  figures,  with  the  corresponding  tinctures 
made  from  the  undried  specimens  ;  from  which  results  the  infer- 
ence was  drawn  that  the  method  of  drying  adopted,  had  not 
dissipated  any  of  the  active  principle. 
Some  full  grown  fruits,  collected  in  August  1859,  dried  in  a 
darkened  room  and  kept  in  a  paper  package  on  a  shelf,  exposed 
to  the  ordinary  changes  of  temperature,  from  changes  in  the 
seasons,  were  also  examined.  A  quantity  of  them  were  pow- 
dered till  they  passed  through  the  sieve  of  37  meshes  to  the 
inch,  and  177  grains  of  the  powder,  corresponding  with  the 
amount  of  powder  of  seeds  used  in  the  previous  experiments 
