AxoVeJXVPm?-}    Work  in  an  English  Herb  Garden.  495 
0.27  to  0.69  per  cent,  have  occurred.  The  average  of  twenty-one 
analyses  of  German  and  Austrian  commercial  roots  was  0.40  per 
cent. 
Other  observers  have  recorded  similar  results. 
Chevalier  (Compt.  Rend.,  1910,  150,  344)  gives  the  following 
figures  for  continental  roots  : 
French    0.300-0.450  per  cent. 
Austrian    0.251-0.372  per  cent. 
Italian    0.107^0.187  per  cent. 
Henderson  (Pharm.  J,,  1905.,  75,  191)  has  shown  the  average 
of  thirty  samples  for  foreign  root  to  be  0.3  per  cent. 
It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  average  of  nine  samples  of 
root  grown  at  Dartford  is  0.54  per  cent. 
In  order  to  determine  whether  this  variation  was  due  to  col- 
lecting at  different  times  of  the  year,  roots  from  the  same  plot, 
derived  from  second  year's'  plants  which  had  been  sown  at  the 
same  time,  were  dug  up  at  intervals  and  dried.  The  following  is 
a  record  of  the  analysis  of  these  samples: 
March,  191 1   0.56  per  cent. 
May,  191 1   0.59  per  cent. 
June.  191 1    0.53  per  cent. 
August.  191 1    0.50  per  cent. 
December,  191 1    0.59  .per  cent 
The  amount  of  variation  throughout  the  year  is  thus  seen  to  be 
very  small :  there  appears,  however,  to  be  slightly  less  alkaloid  present 
during  August,  when  the  fruit  is  ripening.  We  must  therefore  seek 
other  explanations  for  the  low  percentage  of  alkaloid  present  in 
commercial  belladonna  root.  If  one  considers  the  figures  recorded 
by  various  observers  it  appears  that  in  the  warmest  climates,  such 
as  those  of  Italy  and  Austria,  the  lowest  proportion  of  alkaloid  is  to 
be  observed :  and  this  would  account  for  the  high  reputation  of  Eng- 
lish belladonna.  But  no  such  generalization  can  be  regarded  as  estab- 
lished until  plants  grown  in  those  countries  in  a  suitable  soil  and 
under  careful  observation  have  been  submitted  to  analysis.  That 
such  an  explanation  is  not  improbable  is  clear  from  the  published 
facts  relating  to  other  alkaloid-producing  plants,  which  show  that 
different  amounts  of  alkaloid  are  formed  in  different  latitudes.  For 
