394  Time  for  Collection  of  Sanguinaria.  }  ^pdmbe/wia' 
WHAT  IS  THE  PROPER  TIME  FOR  THE  COLLECTION 
OF  SANGUINARIA?1 
By  V.  O.  Homerberg,  P.D.,  and  G.  M.  Beringer,  Jr.,  P.D.2 
The  U.S. P.  directs  that  Sanguinaria  be  collected  after  the 
death  of  the  foliage.  In  order  to  determine  if  this  were  the  proper 
time,  a  number  of  samples  of  the  rhizome  were  collected  at  various 
times  from  May — just  after  flowering — to  August — just  before  the 
leaves  began  to  die. 
The  assays  of  these,  as  given  in  the  appended  table,  show  that, 
for  maximum  alkaloidal  content,  the  time  directed  in  the  U.S. P. 
is  the  worst  that  could  possibly  be  selected.  It  will  be  noted  that 
the  alkaloidal  content  decreases  from  6.5  per  cent.,  on  May  12th, 
to  3  per  cent.,  on  July  6th,  after  which  it  remains  practically  sta- 
tionary. The  figures  for  loss  in  weight  on  air  drying  the  fresh 
drug  show  a  steady  decrease  in  moisture  content  as  the  season 
advances. 
This  would  seem-  to  indicate  that  the  alkaloidal  principles  are  not 
products  essential  to  the  nourishment  of  the  plant,  but  rather  in  the 
nature  of  waste  products  of  plant  metabolism.  Hence,  these  prin- 
ciples are  not  increased  in  amount  and  stored  up,  like  the  resins, 
gums  and  starches,  for  a  period  of  rest.  The  alkaloidal  percentage 
is,  in  fact,  reduced  by  the  increase  of  the  latter  classes  of  substances 
and  the  consequent  decrease  in  the  amount  of  water  during  the  less 
active  period  of  plant  life. 
If  this  is  the  case  the  rhizome  and  root  drugs  which  owe  their 
activity  to  alkaloidal  constituents  should  be  collected  at  ,the  time 
of  greatest  plant  activity — i.e.,  about  or  immediately  after  flowering. 
That  such  is  the  case  with  Sanguinaria,  the  figures  here  given  indi- 
cate. No  doubt  similar  facts  will  be  found  to  obtain  in  the  case  of 
the  drugs  of  a  like  character.  The  subject  is  presented  as  one 
worthy  of  further  investigation.  We  believe  that  the  U.S. P.  state- 
ment regarding  the  time  of  collecting  Sanguinaria  should  be  modi- 
*Read  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  New  Jersey  Pharmaceutical  Asso- 
ciation, June,  1913. 
2  The  work  embodied  in  this  paper  was  carried  out  by  Victor  O.  Homer- 
berg and  presented  by  him  in  a  thesis,  for  his  degree,  before  the  Philadelphia 
College  of  Pharmacy.  His  associate  has  merely  rewritten  this  portion  for 
presentation  to  this  Association. — G.  M.  B.,  Jr. 
