An attempt to answer the question Which part of the plant Conium maculatum is the best for medicinal use? / by Wm. Manlius Smith.

  • Smith, William Manlius.
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An attempt to answer the question Which part of the plant Conium maculatum is the best for medicinal use? / by Wm. Manlius Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    4/8 (page 4)
    parts of the plant, presented itself as an available one for the purpose in view. The plan adopted has been to make, as nearly as possible, pre- cisely similar preparations from the leaves collected at two dilfer- ent stages of growth, and from the seeds at different degrees of maturity, and then by a delicate re-agent to test their comparative richness in the alkaloids. The re-agent used was that recom- mended by F. F. Mayer, in the Am. Journal of Pharmacy, vol. XXXV, p. 23, consisting of a dilute solution of iodide of potassium and corrosive sublimate in water. As comparative results only were aimed at, the following modification of the course of proceed- ing prescribed by Mayer was adopted: The various solutions to be tested were each diluted with carefully ascertained amounts of water, till but a faintly perceptible turbidity was produced on the addition of the test liquid, and the comparative strengths estimated by the amount of dilution that each solution admitted of. The 30th of July, 18()6, a quantity of leaves was collected from a Conium plant just fairly in flower. All withered and sickly look- ing portions, as well as the greater part of the petioles, both general and partial, having been rejected, four parcels of 500 grains each were accurately weighed out, and designated A^ A^, A^ and A‘‘. Of these, A^ and A^ were each thoroughly bruised in a mortar for five minutes, and then transferred to a half pint bottle, and 1,000 grains, by weight, of diluted alcohol added. The mortar was well cleansed and dried between each operation. Parcels A‘ and A^ were placed to dry, thinly spread out on paper, in a darkened room, and occjisionally turned. The bottles containing A^ and A^ were well stopped with corks, covered with thick paper and placed in a cellar. The same day, the leaves were collected from other plants wholly out of flower, and having the fruits on the more mature umbels nearly, if not quite, full grown. These leaves, the same care being used to reject inferior portions, Avere likeAvise Aveighed into parcels of 500 grains each, and designated BS B^ and B‘‘, and Avere treated exactly as the corresponding parcels designated A. The fruits that appeared to be full grown Avere collected from the same plants, that furnished the leaves designated B, by cutting off Avith scissors the umbellules entire. Four parcels of 500 grains each Avere made of them, designated C^, and O'*, which Avere treated as parcels A and B had been. The partly grown fruits from the same plants furnishing B and