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ON  THE  ACTIVE  PRINCIPLE  OF  HYOSCYAMUS. 
briefly  as  follows  :  The  juice  of  the  plant  is  collected,  acidified 
with  sulphuric  acid,  and  heated  to  coagulate  albuminous  matter, 
or  an  extract  is  prepared  by  means  of  acidulated  alcohol  or  water  ; 
by  either  plan  a  liquid  is  obtained,  which  is  evaporated  to  a  small 
bulk,  allowed  to  stand,  if  necessary  again  filtered,  and  then  mixed 
with  excess  of  the  acid  mixture  of  phosphate  and  molybdate  of 
sodium,  for  the  preparation  of  which  directions  are  given. 
A  precipitate  is  formed  which  contains  the  base  in  combination 
with  the  " phospho-molybdic "  acid;  it  is  collected,  slightly 
washed,  introduced  still  moist  into  a  flask,  and  excess  of  caustic 
baryta  added  ;  a  cork  is  then  fitted,  and  heat  applied.  Should 
volatile  bases  be  present,  they  are  distilled  into  a  set  of  bulbs 
containing  dilute  hydrochloric  acid. 
The  non-volatile  bases  which  remain  are  afterwards  obtained 
by  rendering  the  excess  of  bartya  insoluble  by  a  stream  of  car- 
bonic acid,  and  then  extracting  with  alcohol,  which  gives  a  solu- 
tion of  the  base  nearly  in  a  state  of  purity.  Here,  again,  I  was 
unsuccessful,  possibly  because  the  hyoscyamine  was  altered  by 
the  caustic  earth,  with  evolution  of  ammonia,  a  kind  of  change 
to  which  it  is  very  subject. 
I  next  procured  a  quantity  of  freshly-prepared  extract  of  the 
leaf,  which  was  kindly  furnished  me  from  one  of  the  first  pharma- 
ceutical establishments  in  London.    Half  a  pound  of  this  extract 
(corresponding  to  about  14  lb.  of  the  leaves)  was  dissolved  in 
about  three  pints  of  water,  mixed  with  a  very  small  quantity  of 
milk  of  lime,  and  filtered  ;  to  the  clear  liquid  was  then  added 
carbonate,  of  potash  till  it  was  strongly  alkaline,  and  the  whole 
thoroughly  agitated  with  about  a  pint  of  chloroform.  After 
standing  all  night,  the  chloroform  subsided  as  a  slightly  greenish 
oil,  which  was  separated  by  a  funnel,  filtered  into  a  bottle,  shaken 
up  with  some  water  acidulated  with  sulphuric  acid,  and  then  the 
chloroform  recovered.    This  aqueous  liquid  gave  an  abundant 
precipitate  with  Sonnenschein's  reagent ;  it  was  rendered  alka- 
line with  carbonate  of  potash,  and  shaken  up  with  ether.  The 
ethereal  solution  contained  all  the  base,  as  was  indicated  by  the 
fact  that  the  aqueous  portion,  upon  reacidification,  no  longer 
gave  a  precipitate  with  the  phospho-molybdate.     The  ether, 
which  was  colorless,  was  then  shaken  up  with  acidulated  water, 
