182  Assay  of  Belladonna  Plasters.  {^aSS*;^™" 
The  last  few  years  of  his  life  were  marked  by  periods  of  great 
suffering.  In  August  of  1897  his  eyesight  failed  greatly  and  he 
was  thus  denied  one  or  his  chief  comforts,  that  of  reading.  A  long 
continued  attack  of  herpes  zoster  rendered  him  very  weak,  and  this 
was  followed  by  a  return  of  a  chronic  inflamation  of  the  bladder,  to 
which  he  finally  succumbed,  closing  his  eventful  life  on  February  28, 
1898,  in  the  75th  year  of  his  age. 
Thus  has  passed  away  one  of  the  pharmaceutical  masters  who  has 
enriched  the  profession  by  faithful,  unremitting  devotion  to  its  best 
interests,  and  one  whose  name  will  ever  be  associated  with  the  most 
notable  achievements  of  American  pharmacy. 
ON  THE  ASSAY  OF  BELLADONNA  PLASTERS  AND  THE 
ALKALOIDAL  STRENGTH  OF  THE  BELLADONNA 
PLASTERS  OF  THE  MARKET. 
By  Cari,  B.  Smith. 
Report  from  Research  Committee  D.,  Section  II. ,  of  the  Committee  of  Revision 
of  the  (J.  S.  Pharmacopoeia. 
The  Belladonna  Plasters  of  the  American  market  are  almost  with- 
out exception  prepared  with  a  base  containing  rubber  as  the  princi- 
pal ingredient,  combined  with  various  resins.  Moreover,  they  are 
often  admittedly  prepared  from  an  extract  of  the  rhizome  of  Scopolia 
carniolica,  and  in  such  cases  are  not  "  belladonna  "  plasters,  strictly 
speaking.  As,  however,  the  alkaloids  of  this  plant  are  practically 
identical  with  those  of  Atropa  belladonna  and  are  apparently  present 
in  more  uniform  quantity  in  it  than  in  either  the  leaf  or  root  of  the 
latter,  there  would  seem  to  be  some  excuse  for  the  substitution. 
METHOD  OF  ASSAY. 
The  presence  of  rubber  necessitates  some  deviation  from  the 
methods  of  valuation,  as  applied  to  the  ordinary  galenical  prepara- 
tions of  alkaloidal  drugs  and  the  most  practical  of  the  very  few  pub- 
lished methods,  of  which  the  writer  has  knowledge,  proved  to  be 
that  of  S.  W.  Williams,  Ph.C.  and  C.  E.  Parker,  Ph.C,  chemists  for 
Seabury  &  Johnson.  It  is  included  in  a  comprehensive  paper  on 
belladonna  plasters  read  before  the  A.  Ph.  A.  at  the  meeting  of  1890 
