6i8 
Indian  Henbane. 
Am.  Jour.  PharniA 
Dec,  1880. 
NOTE  ON  INDIAN  HENBANE. 
By  Thos.  Gi^EENisH.  F.C.S.,  F.R.M.S. 
Among  the  samples  of  interesting  drugs  which  reach  the  Museum 
of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society,  either  through  its  honorary  and  corres- 
ponding members  or  other  scientific  men,  the  products  of"  India,  our 
own  colonies  or  those  of  other  countries  there  is  an  ample  field  for 
scientific  research,  and  one  in  which  the  youth  of  our  profession  may 
serve  the  cause  of  pharmacy,  and  at  the  same  time  earn  distinction  for 
themselves. 
It  is,  from  every  point  of  view,  desirable  that  the  numerous  vegeta- 
ble products  of  tropical  and  other  countries,  introduced  as  remedial 
agents,  should,  as  early  as  may  be  convenient,  be  thoroughly  examined,, 
and  if  there  be  present  in  any  one  of  them  an  active  proximate  prin- 
ciple or  residual  agent  that  it  may  be  recognized  as  an  aid  to  therapeutic 
science;  or,  on  the  contrary,  if  possessing  only  some  astringent  or 
other  less  valuable  constituent,  it  may  be  relegated  to  its  proper  place 
as  an  addition  to  a  class  of  bodies  of  which  we  at  present  possess  so 
ample  a  store. 
It  is  sometimes  difficult- to  determine  whether  it  be  a  loss  to  thera- 
peutics or  a  gain  to  true  pharmacy;  but,  nevertheless,  there  is  the  fact,, 
and  it  is  daily  exemplified,  that  the  more  plentiful  supply  of  the  raw 
material  sends  a  large  number  of  new  therapeutic  agents  into  the  list  of 
forgotten  or  neglected  remedies. 
The  official  biennial  henbane  leaf  has  of  late  years  become  very 
scarce  in  this  country,  and  it  was  with  considerable  interest  that,  at  the 
request  of  Mr.  Holmes,  1  undertook  the  examination  of  a  small  sample 
of  henbane  leaf  sent  from  India.  It  arrived  in  a  tin  box,  without  any 
particulars  as  to  its  being  the  produce  of  the  annual  or  biennial  plant.^ 
place  of  growth,  character  of  soil,  the  result  of  cultivation  or  other- 
wise. The  quantity  at  my  disposal  was  only  3^^  drachms.  On  removal 
from  the  tin  the  leaves  had  a  clammy  feel  ;  they  possessed  an  intense 
odor,  on  the  hand  very  persistent,  and  generally  stronger  than  that  of 
any  henbane  that  had  previously  come  under  my  notice. 
With  so  small  a  quantity  of  leaf  the  tincture  seemed  the  most  suit- 
able official  preparation  to  make.  For  this  purpose  it  was  placed  in  a 
drying-closet  at  a  temperature  of  about  8o°F.,  and  with  a  loss  of  14 
grams  or  7  per  cent,  was  reduced  to  a  coarse  powder,  as  directed  in  the 
Pharmacopoeia.     It  was  remarked  how  quickly  and  almost  entirely  the 
