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This investigation describes the successful hydroponic growth of Hyoscyamus muticus L., using varying concentrations of nitrogen in Skok media. Maximum development and growth were observed between 252 and 336 p.p.m. Analysis of the flowering plants revealed constant moisture content of the total plant and its component parts at nitrogen supplies above 42 p.p.m. Fresh and dried plant weights reached a maximum at 252 p.p.m. and remained constant to 672 p.p.m. of nitrogen. Increasing the nitrate-nitrogen content of the supplied media from 0 to 252 p.p.m. resulted in an absolute increase in total alkaloid production. The flower tops contained the greatest concentration of alkaloid.

Existing chromatographic methods have been successfully adapted to the isolation and the purification of the anthraquinone derivatives of Curacao aloe. Two trihydroxy-methylanthraquinones, aloe-emodin and iso-emodin, have been separated from extracts of Curacao aloe. The use of chromatography as a quantitative method for the anthraquinone drugs has been verified and a quantitation of the total anthraquinone content of Curacao aloe is proposed.

In sensitized albino guinea pigs it was not possible to demonstrate therapeutic activity for jewelweed in poison ivy dermatitis after the outward manifestations became apparent. Neither was it possible to exhibit activity in limiting the biologic activity of poison ivy when poison ivy extracts and jewelweed juice were combined in vitro, or on the skin. This was attributable to a lesser degree of sensitivity in guinea pigs than in man and the greater amounts of ivy toxin necessary to elicit dermatitis exceeded the neutralizing powers of even concentrated preparations of jewelweed. In human subjects jewelweed was of no value in treating experimentally established dermatitis. Jewelweed juice or concentrated solutions of jewelweed enzymes were capable of inactivating more dilute poison ivy extracts when mixed in vitro and tested on human subjects under controlled conditions.