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.

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    r. on its neck. The tincture obtained was then transferred to the bottle in which tlic leaves had macerated, it having been thoroughly washed and dried—the exhausted matter removed from the funnel—the funnel well rinsed and wiped, and half an ounce of diluted alcohol passed through to rinse out the obstructing plug, before was introduced. In like manner B^ C^ and A“, B’^, C‘^ and were treated, the funnel being carefully cleansed be- tween the percolations of the several parcels. The same amount ot tincture Avas thus obtained from each, made as nearly as possible, Avith the same menstruum. In order to apply the re-agent selected, it was next necessary to get rid of the alcohol in the specimens to be tested. A certain definite and equal portion of each (20 cubic centimetres, or between 5 and t5 fluid drachms), Avas taken, the same amount of a Avatery solution of oxalic acid added to each portion of tincture taken, Avhich Avas then evaporated by a gentle heat, not rising aboye 110 deg. F, to ai)proaching dryness. The residues Averc then diluted Avith Avater to the original volume of 20 c. c. each, and aftcrAvards still further dilutetl, as occasion I’ctjuirod, fill they each Avere affected to the same faint degree of tui bidity, by the application of the test liquid. It Av^as found that the liquid from the leaves of the plant, just in full floAver, admitted of a dilution Avith 1^ times its volume of Avater. That from the leaves from the plant gone to seed, bore but ^ its volume of Avater ; that from the full groAvn seeds required dilution Avith 7 volumes of AA^ater, and that from the immature seeds gave a perceptible turbidity Avith the test liquid Avhen diluted Avith 8 times its volume of Avater, making the comparative strengths, in the active principle, as folloAA^s : A'’=10, 1F=5; C^=32, and D^=3(). These experiments shoAved the partly groAvn fruits to be the most active portion of the plant. The tinc- tures made from the several ])arcels of leaves and seeds after dry ing, gave very unexpectedly the same figures, Avith the correspond, ing tinctures made from the undried specimens ; from Avhich result the inference Avas draAvn that the method of drying adopted, had not dissipated any of the active principle. Some full groAvii fruits, collected in August 1859, dried in a darkened room and kept in a paper package on a shelf, exposed to the ordinary changes of temiAcrature, from changes in the seasons, Avere also examined. A quantity of them were powdered till they passed through the sieve, of 37 meshes to the inch, and 177 grains of the poAvder, corresponding Avith the amount of poAv-