CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 257 



tals are formed of sulphate of iodo-strychnine, which polarize the light, as 

 has been discovered by Mr. Herapath. The precipitates formed by iodide of 

 mercury and potassium, by tannic acid, and by solution of chlorine in water, 

 are white. This last reagent must be used in relative large quantity, and 

 the precipitate formed by it does not appear immediately. 



The precipates formed by sulphocyanide of potassium and neutral chro- 

 mate of potash are both crystalline. The color of the former is white, and 

 the form of the crystals observed by the microscope is very characteristic. 

 The color of the latter is a beautiful yellow. The formation of both these 

 precipitates is accelerated by rubbing the surface of the tube with a glass 

 rod. 



The precipitate formed by chromate of potash gets immediately a dark 

 purple color, if moistened by concentrated sulphuric acid. All the other 

 precipitates get the same color, if they are dissolved in a small quantity of 

 strong sulphuric acid, and the solution brought into contact with a fragment 

 of a crystal of chromate of potash or ferricyanide of potassium. 



The authors also give as then* opinion, founded on experiments and inves- 

 tigation : 



That if death has been caused by strychnine, this poison can be detected 

 in the body, provided it has been administered in a quantity more than suffi- 

 cient to cause death. 



That if the poisoning by strychnine has been chronic, and has resulted 

 from a quantity not greater than just necessary to cause death, the cause of 

 this death cannot be proved, either by the post-mortem examination of the 

 body, or by a chemical investigation of the intestines. 



That it appears to be highly probable that that part of the strychnine 

 which acts mortally is decomposed in the living body. 



That the urine of patients who take strychnine or its salts as a medicine, 

 contains not a trace of this poison. 



Mr. Maxwell Simpson, in a communication published in the Dublin Hosjrital 

 Gazette, states that strychnia is not the only substance that will produce a 

 purple color when brought into contact with a mixture of bichromate of 

 potash and oil of vitriol, the test usually relied on for the detection of this 

 poison. I have found that naphthalidam, an organic base derived from 

 naphthalin, will produce, as might have been expected, an exactly similar 

 color when tested with the same mixture. The color is best brought out by 

 making a mixture of equal volumes of oil of vitriol and a cold saturated 

 solution of bichromate of potash, and bringing it, while still warm, into 

 momentary contact with a particle of the naphthalidam. 



ANTIDOTE FOR STRYCHNINE. 



The Rev. S. Haughton, in a communication recently made to the Royal 

 Irish Academy, on the properties of nicotine and strychnine, stated : 



" That he was induced to make the experiments by the consideration of 

 the specific actions of strychnine and nicotine upon the muscular system, 

 which appeared to be so opposite in their character as to lead him to a 

 conviction that they might prove to be equally antidotes to each other's 

 action. It is generally believed that strychnine exerts a specific action upon 

 the lower or lumbar portions of the spinal column, exciting the muscular 

 system (at least the voluntary muscles) into a state of tetanic contraction, 

 and ultimately producing death indirectly, by rendering respiration mechan- 



22* ' 



