470 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



the purpose of explaining this circumstance, M. Schcenbein imagines 

 that although currents of very low intensity may, as Faraday has 

 shown, traverse electrolytes without decomposing them, still he con- 

 siders that they must produce some effect, and this he conceives to 

 be a weakening of the bonds of affinity holding together the molecules 

 of the electrolyte ; thus in the case of hydrochloric acid the atoms of 

 chlorine and hydrogen become separated to a certain distance from 

 each other, and their mutual affinity diminished, the effect of the 

 current being also to turn the hydrogen molecules towards the nega- 

 tive, and the chlorine towards the positive electrode. In this manner 

 M. Schcenbein explains the secondary current, which on this hypo- 

 thesis arises from the re -combination of the partially separated atoms 

 of the electrolyte. — L'Institut, '2b'2,. 



[It will be observed that the facts, detailed in the above notice, 

 have for the most part been anticipated by Dr. G. Bird in his paper 

 in the last number of this Journal. — Ed.] 



SULPHOCYANIDB OF POTASSIUM AS A TEST FOR STRYCHNIA. 



M. Notus having proposed the above-named salt for the use men- 

 tioned {Annals of British Medicine, Feb. 1837,) M. O. Henry has 

 made the following observations on the subject. He added the sul- 

 phocyanide, prepared as directed by M. Notus, to neutral and pure 

 solutions of the acetate of quina, cinchonia, codeia, brucia and strych- 

 nia ; the three first gave abundant white curdy precipitates, whilst 

 the salt of strychnia yielded silky brilliant crystals, diffused through 

 the liquid. The solutions of acetate of morphia, narcotin, and vera- 

 tria gave only a slight flocculent cloud, and that of codeia, at first 

 limpid, gave in about a quarter of an hour very fine pearly crystals. 

 AU these effects were produced in watch-glasses and were very di- 

 stinct. 



Each precipitate was then gradually heated ; those of quina, cin- 

 chonia, and codeia disappeared in a short time, but those of brucia, 

 and especially of strychnia, dissolved much more slowly ; by gradual 

 cooling they all reappeared with more or less distinct crystalline 

 forms, and the precipitates formed with codeia and strychnia pre- 

 sented their silky appearance. 



These precipitates drained and dried on filtering paper were soluble 

 in hot alcohol ; with the persalts of iron they produced a crimson 

 colour, like the sulphocyanides ; and the bitterness of each was more 

 or less distinguishable. 



These results agree with those of M. Notus, and with the characters 

 already known of strychnia : the sulphocyanide of potassium may 

 serve to detect it. It must at the same time be admitted, that several 

 other organic bases give precipitates with it, the properties of which 

 bear great resemblance to those of strychnia ; the sulphocyanide 

 of potassium cannot therefore alone be considered as a sufficient in- 

 dication of this powerful alkali in judicial proceedings, but it adds a 

 new character to those already known.—- /owrna/ de Fkarmacie, 

 xxiv. — 194. 



