AmAp°rif  ?m*m'}  Alcoholic  Extract  of  the  Boot  oj  Atropa  Belladonna.  201 
to  any  considerable  extent  in  alkaloidal  strength.  In  a  previous 
paper  read  before  this  Society  (see  Am.  Jour.  Phar.,  1884,  p.  279),  we 
have  described  a  method  by  which  the  quantity  of  alkaloid  in  the  root 
of  Atropa  Belladonna  maybe  accurately  ascertained.  The  uniformity 
in  the  alkaloidal  strength  of  the  extract  prepared  from  the  root  is, 
however,  dependent  not  only  upon  the  corresponding  uniformity  in 
the  root,  but  also  upon  the  solvent  which  is  employed,  and  the  man- 
ner of  its  employment. 
The  Estimation  of  the  Total  Alkaloid. — It  was  in  the  first  place 
necessary  to  devise  an  accurate  process  for  the  estimation  of  the  total 
alkaloid,  and  one  which  should,  if  possible,  be  free  from  complexity. 
This  we  have  succeeded  in  doing  by  means  of  a  modification  of  the 
process  which  was  employed  for  the  same  object  with  the  root  itself. 
The  method  now  proposed  consists  in  dissolving  about  2  grams  of  the 
extract  with  a  gentle  heat  in  water  acidulated  with  hydrochloric  acid. 
The  liquid  is  filtered,  and  the  residue  washed  with  dilute  hydrochloric 
acid  until  the  washings  yield  no  precipitate  with  a  solution  of  iodine 
in  potassium  iodide.  The  clear  liquid  is  then  rendered  alkaline  with 
ammonia,  and  extracted  with  chloroform  until  nothing  further  is  re- 
moved. Two  separate  extractions  with  half  its  volume  of  chloroform 
are  usually  sufficient  for  this  purpose.  The  chloroform  is  next  twice 
agitated  with  its  own  volume  of  water  acidulated  with  hydrochloric 
acid.  It  now  only  remains  to  render  this  liquid  alkaline  with  am- 
monia, and  to  twice  extract  it  with  half  its  volume  of  chloroform. 
The  chloroform,  when  spontaneously  evaporated,  yields  a  residue  of 
the  crystalline  alkaloids  (atropine  and  hyoscyamine),  or  when  evapo- 
rated at  100°  C.  a  residue  of  fused  alkaloids  which  should  be  dried 
until  it  has  a  constant  weight.  In  these  experiments  no  advantage  is 
gained  by  evaporating  the  liquid  and  drying  the  residue  at  a  lower 
temperature,  for  we  have  found  that  a  residue  so  prepared  undergoes 
no  appreciable  decomposition  at  the  higher  temperature  of  100°  C. 
That  the  residue  obtained  in  this  way  is  entirely  alkaloidal  in  its  na- 
ture was  proved  by  the  method  of  precipitation  as  periodide,  which 
has  been  described  in  a  previous  paper.  The  following  results  may  be 
cited : — . 
Weight  of  alkaloidal  Weight  of  alkaloid 
residue  taken.  recovered. 
a   0-057  "  0-054 
b   0-018  0-0145 
y   0-072  0*0695 
