the seat of the fine granular colouring matter. If it is removed by an alcoholic solution of potash, a cell-nucleus and drops of fat oil make their appearance. The structural details of this fruit afford interesting subjects for microscopical investigation. Chemical Composition-Bucholz in 1816, and about the same time Braconnot, traced the acridity of capsicum to a substance called Capsicin. It is obtained by treating the alcoholic extract with ether, and is a thick yellowish red liquid, but slightly soluble in water. When gently heated, it becomes very fluid, and at a higher temperature is dissipated in fumes which are extremely irritating to respiration. It is evidently a mixed substance, consisting of resinous and fatty matters. Felletár in 1869, exhausted capsicum fruits with dilute sulphuric acid, and distilled the decoction with potash. The distillate, which was strongly alkaline and smelt like conine, was saturated with sulphuric acid, evaporated to dryness, and exhausted with absolute alcohol. The solution after evaporation of the alcohol, was treated with potash, and yielded by distillation a volatile alkaloid having the odour of conine. From experiments made by one of us (F.) we can fully confirm the observations of Felletár. We have obtained the volatile base in question, and find it to have the smell of conine. It occurs both in the pericarp and in the seeds, but in so small proportion that we were unsuccessful in isolating it in sufficient quantity to allow of accurate examination. Dragendorff states (1871) that petroleum ether is the best solvent for the alkaloid of capsicum; he obtained crystals of its hydrochlorate, the aqueous solution of which was precipitated by most of the usual tests, but not by tannic acid. The colouring matter of capsicum fruits is sparingly soluble in alcohol, but readily in chloroform. After evaporation, an intensely red soft mass is obtained, which is not much altered by potash. The fruits of Capsicum fastigiatum have a somewhat strong odour; on distilling consecutively two quantities, each of 50 Hb., we obtained a scanty amount of flocculent fatty matter, which possesses an odour suggestive of parsley. Both this matter, as well as the distilled water, were neutral to litmus paper, and the water tasteless. We separated the latter and exposed the remaining greasy mass to a temperature of about 50° C., when it for the most part melted. The clear liquid on cooling solidified, and now consisted of tufted crystals, which we further purified by recrystallization from alcohol. Thus about 2 centigrammes were obtained of a neutral white stearoptene, having a decidedly aromatic, not very persistent taste, by no means acrid, but rather like that of the essential oil of parsley. The crystals melted at 38° C. On keeping them for some days at the temperature of the water-bath, covered with a watch-glass, some drops of essential oil were volatilized, which had the same taste and did not solidify; the crystals were consequently accompanied by a liquid oil. When kept for some days more in that condition, the crystals themselves began to be volatilized, and the part remaining behind acquired a brownish hue. This no doubt points out another impurity, as we ascertained by the following experiment. With boiling solution of potash, the stearoptene produces a kind of soap, which on cooling yields a transparent jelly. If this is dissolved and diluted, it becomes turbid by addition of an acid. This probably depends upon the presence of a little fatty matter, a suggestion which is confirmed by the somewhat offensive smell given off by our stearoptene if it is heated in a glass tube. Commerce-Chillies or Pod Pepper are shipped from Zanzibar, Western Africa and Natal, but no general statistics of the quantity imported into Great Britain are accessible. The exports from Sierra Leone in 1871 reached 7258 b.1 The colony of Natal which produces Cayenne Pepper in the county of Victoria, where sugar-cane and coffee are also grown, shipped in the same year 9072 lb.2 Official returns 3 show that in 1871 Singapore imported 1071 cwt. (119,952 b.) of chillies, chiefly from Penang and Pegu. The spice is largely consumed by the Chinese. Bombay imported of dried chillies in the year 1872-3, 5567 cwt. (623,504 b.) principally from the Madras Presidency, and exported 3323 cwt.4 Uses-Capsicum on account of its pungent properties, is often administered as a local stimulant in the form of gargle, and occasionally as a liniment; and internally to promote digestion. In all warm countries, it is much employed as a condiment. RADIX BELLADONNE. Belladonna Root; F. Racine de Belladone; G. Belladonnawurzel. Botanical Origin-Atropa Belladonna L., a tall, glabrous or slightly downy herb, with a perennial stock, native of Central and Southern Europe, where it grows in the clearings of woods. The plant extends eastward to the Crimea, Caucasia and Northern Asia Minor. In Britain, it is chiefly found in the southern counties, but even of these it is a doubtful native. In a few localities in England and France as well as in North America, the plant is cultivated for medicinal use. History-Although a plant so striking as belladonna can hardly have been unknown to the classical authors, it cannot with certainty be identified in their writings. Saladinus of Ascoli, who wrote an enumeration of medicinal plantsabout A.D. 1450, names the leaves of both Solatrum furiale and Solatrum minus, the former of which is probably Belladonna. However this may be, the first indubitable notice of it that we have met with, is in the Grand Herbier printed at Paris, probably about 1504.6 The plant is also mentioned about this period as Solatrum mortale or Dolwurtz, in the writings of Hieronymus Brunschwyg.7 1 Blue Book of the Colony of Sierra Leone for 1871. 2 Do. of Natal for 1871. 3 Do of the Straits Settlements for 1871. of Bombay for 1872-73, pt. ii. 58. 91. 6 Le Grand Herbier en francoys, contenāt les qualitez, vertus et proprietez des herbes, &c., Paris (no date) 4°. cap. De Solastro rustico. 7 Das destillier Buch (sub. voce Nachtschet Wasser). Strassb. 1515. But there are earlier editions. In 1542, belladonna was well figured as Solanum somniferum or Dollkraut, by the German botanist Leonhard Fuchs, who fully recognized its poisonous properties. Yet it was confounded by other writers of this period, as Tragus, who reproduced Fuchs' figure as "Solanum hortense!" Matthiolus (1548), who terms the plant Solanum majus, states that it is called by the Venetians Herba Bella donna, from the circumstance of the Italian ladies using a distilled water of the plant as a cosmetic. The introduction of the root of belladonna into British medicine is of recent date, and is due to Mr. Peter Squire of London, who recommended it as the basis of a useful anodyne liniment, about the year 1860. Description-Belladonna has a large, fleshy, tapering root, 1 to 2 inches thick, and a foot or more in length, from which diverge stout branches. Externally the fresh roots are of an earthy brown, rough with cracks and transverse ridges. The bark is thick and juicy, and as well as the more fibrous central portion, is internally of a dull creamy white. A transverse section of the main root shows a distinct radiate structure. The root has an earthy smell with but very little taste. Dried root of Belladonna is sold in rough irregular pieces of a dirty greyish colour, whitish internally, breaking easily with a short fracture, and having an earthy smell not unlike that of liquorice root. Roots not exceeding the thickness of the finger should be preferred. The drug is for the most part imported from Germany, and is often of doubtful quality. English-grown root purchased in a fresh state (the large and old being rejected), then washed, cut into transverse segments and dried by a gentle heat, furnishes a more reliable and satisfactory article. Microscopic Structure-There is a considerable structural difference between the main root and its branches, the former alone containing a distinct pith. This pith is included in a woody circle, traversed by narrow medullary rays. In the outer part of the woody circle, parenchymatous tissue is more prevalent than vascular bundles. transverse section of the branches of the root, exhibits a central vascular bundle instead of a medullary column. The outer vascular bundles. show no regular arrangement; and medullary rays are not clearly obvious in the transverse section. The The woody parts, both of the main root and its branches, contain very large dotted vessels accompanied by a prosenchymatous tissue. The cells of the latter, however, are always thin-walled; the absence of proper so-called ligneous tissue explains the easy fracture of the root. Sometimes the prosenchyme in which the vessels are imbedded, assumes a brownish hue and a waxy appearance, and such parts exhibit a very irregular structure. In the cortical portion of belladonna root, many of the cells of the middle layer, and likewise some of the central parts of the root, are loaded with extremely small octahedric crystals of calcium oxalate. But most of the parenchymatous cells are filled up with small starch granules. 1 Historia Stirpium, Basil. 1542. 689. 2 De Stirpium, p. 301. Chemical Composition-In 1833, Mein prepared from the root, and Geiger and Hesse from the herb, the crystallizable alkaloid Atropine, C17H23 NO3. The researches of Lefort (1872) have proved that the roots contain it in very variable proportions, the young being much richer in alkaloid than the old. The maximum proportion obtained was 0.6 per cent.; this was from root of the thickness of the finger. Large old roots, 7 or 8 years of age, afford from 0.25 to 0:31 per cent. They have besides a smaller proportion of bark than young roots, and it is chiefly in the bark that the alkaloid appears to reside. Manufacturers of atropine employ exclusively the root. Ludwig and Pfeiffer (1861) by decomposing atropine with potassium chromate and sulphuric acid, obtained benzoic acid and propylamine. Other products are formed when atropine is treated with strong hydrochloric acid, baryta water or caustic soda, thus-Atropine, C17H23NO3 + H2O Tropic Acid, C9H10O3+ Tropine, C8H15 NO. Tropic acid crystallizes, and is easily resolved into Atropic Acid and Isatropic Acid, each corresponding to the formula C9H8O2, but otherwise remakably dissimilar. Tropine is a strongly alkaline body, readily soluble both in water and alcohol, and furnishing tabular crystals by the evaporation of its solution in ether. Neither tropine nor tropic acid, it is stated by Kraut (1863), is present in the leaves and root of belladonna. Hübschmann (1858) detected in belladonna root a second but uncrystallizable alkaloid, called Belladonnine; it has a resinous aspect, is distinctly alkaline, and when heated emits, like atropine, a peculiar odour. The root further contains according to Richter (1837) and Hübschmann, a fluorescent substance, as well as a red colouring matter called Atrosin. The latter occurs in greatest abundance in the fruit, and would probably repay further investigation. Uses-Belladonna root is chiefly used for the preparation of atropine, which is employed for dilating the pupil of the eye. A liniment made with belladonna root is used for the relief of neuralgic pains. FOLIA BELLADONNE. Belladonna Leaves; F. Feuilles de Belladone; G. Tollkraut. Botanical Origin—Atropa Belladonna L. (p. 409). History-Belladonna Leaves and the extract prepared from them were introduced into the London Pharmacopoeia of 1809. For further particulars regarding the history of belladonna, see the preceding article. Description-Belladonna or Deadly Nightshade produces thick, smooth herbaceous stems, which attain a height of 4 to 5 feet. They are simple in their lower part, then usually 3-forked, and afterwards 2forked, producing in their upper branches an abundance of bright green leaves, arranged in unequal pairs, from the bases of which spring the 1 For Lefort's process for estimating atropine, see p. 412. Gmelin, Chemistry, xvii. (1866) 1. solitary, pendulous, purplish, bell-shaped flowers, and large shining black berries. The leaves are 3 to 6 inches long, stalked, broadly ovate, acuminate, attenuated at the base, soft and juicy; those of barren roots are alternate and solitary. The young shoots are clothed with a soft, short pubescence, which on the calyx is somewhat more persistent, assuming the character of viscid, glandular hairs. If bruised, the leaves emit a somewhat offensive, herbaceous odour which is destroyed by drying. When dried, they are thin and friable, of a brownish green on the upper surface and greyish beneath, with a disagreeable, faintly bitter taste. Of fresh leaves, 100 Hb. yield 16 fb. of dried (Squire). Chemical Composition-The important constituent of belladonna leaves is Atropine. Lefort (1872)1 estimated its amount by exhausting the leaves previously dried at 100° C. by means of dilute alcohol, concentrating the tincture, and throwing down the alkaloid with a solution of iodo-hydrargyrate of potassium. The precipitate thus obtained was calculated to contain 33.25 per cent. of atropine. Lefort examined leaves from plants both cultivated and growing wild in the environs of Paris, and gathered either before or after flowering. He found cultivation not to affect the percentage of alkaloid,-that the leaves of the young plant were rather less rich than those taken at the period of full inflorescence, and that the latter (dried) yielded 044 to 0.48 per cent. of atropine. Belladonna herb yields Asparagine, which according to Biltz (1839) crystallizes out of the extract after long keeping. The crystals found in the extract by Attfield (1862) were however, chloride and nitrate of potassium. The same chemist obtained by dialysis of the juice of belladonna, nitrate of potassium, and square prisms of a salt of magnesium containing some organic acid; the juice likewise affords ammonia. The dried leaves yielded us 14.5 per cent. of ash consisting mainly of calcareous and alkaline carbonates. 2 Uses The fresh leaves are used for making Extractum Belladonna, and the dried for preparing a tincture. They should be gathered while the plant is well in flower. HERBA STRAMONII. Stramonium, Thornapple; F. Herbe de Stramoine; G. Steehapfelblätter. Botanical Origin-Datura3 Stramonium L., a large, quick-growing, upright annual, with white flowers like a convolvulus, and ovoid spiny fruits. It is now found as a weed of cultivation in almost all the temperate and warmer regions of the globe. In the south of England it is often met with in rich waste ground, chiefly near gardens or habitations. 1 Journ. de Pharm. xv. (1872) 269. 341. 2 The fresh juice kept for a few days has been known to evolve red vapours (nitrous acid?) when the vessel containing it was opened.-H. S. Evans in Pharm. Journ. ix. (1850) 260. 3 Datura from the Sanskrit name D'hustúra, applied to D. fastuosa L. The origin of the word Stramonium is not known to us |