From W. W. Baxter 4 December 1872
Bromley Kent
Dec 4. 72
Sir
There is no sort of animal matter used in preparing the Extract of Belladonna, it is prepared exactly in the same way as Ext Hyoscyamus & neither ought to contain albumen, tho’ albumen is present in the juices of both plants, but they should be heated before being evaporated to form an extract, so as to coagulate the albumen, which should be filtered out,—1
The process for both these extracts is identical namely—leaves bruised, juice slightly heated so as to separate chlorophyll, (which is set aside) heated nearly to boiling point to coagulate the albumen which is filtered out, the filtrate is then evaporated partly, the chlorophyll added & the evaporation continued to finish.
I shall be happy to get you some extract from Apoths. Hall, Morton’s or other special place if you desire it, as I cannot make any at this time of year—2 Might I presume to suggest the use of Atropia the active principle of the Belladonna plant, if that is the reason of its use, as it wd. be chemically pure in the form of Sulphate of Atropia it is soluble in water.3
With respects | I remain | Yrs obedly. | Wm. W. Baxter
C. Darwin Esqre.
P.S. I do not find albumen in our Ext. Belladonna
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Post Office directory of the six home counties: Post Office directory of the six home counties, viz., Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. London: W. Kelly & Co. 1845–78.
Smith, Walter G. 1869. Report on materia medica and therapeutics. Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science 48: 191–208.
Summary
Sends CD description of preparation of extract of belladonna.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8659
- From
- William Walmisley Baxter
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Bromley
- Source of text
- DAR 58.1: 21–2
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8659,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8659.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 20