56 ‘TURNBULL ON RANUNCULACE. 
form of tincture, or solution of the active principle in alcohol ; and 
of these it is now proposed to give a short account. | 
_M. Peschier, of Geneva, appears to have been the first experi- 
menter who detected the presence of Aconitine, during a chemical 
examination of the Aconitum Napellus and 4. Paniculatum : 
he describes it as a peculiar alkaline substance, capable of forming 
erystallizable salts with acids.* It appears again to have been detected 
by M. Brandes, in the 2. Neomontanum ; but no’ particulars. 
regarding it are mentioned. In 1825, M. Pallas described the 
Aconitine as an alkaline substance, which he had obtained in scales 
of a yellowish colour.t 3 | yes 
In the year 1832, M. Geiger, from the result of his physiological 
experiments with different Aconites, came to the conclusion, that 
the acrid Aconites contained a narcotic substance different from 
their acrid principle ; and this opinion led M. Hesse to analyse the 
Aconitum Napellus ; and from this he obtained a peculiar body, 
to which he has given the name Aconitina. The process for ob- 
taining it consists in precipitating a decoction of the dried leaves 
by hydrated magnesia, washing the precipitate with water, drying 
it, and then treating it with boiling alcohol, which dissolves the - 
Aconitine and deposits it on cooling.} : 
It is described as being incrystallizable, white and granular, or 
in a colourless mass, .transparent, and having the lustre of glass. It 
is alkaline, inodorous, and has a bitter acrid taste. This acridity, 
however, does not belong to the Aconitine, but disappears if the 
base be several times combined with acids, and the salt formed de- 
composed. When deprived of this acrid principle, it is poisonous 
in the highest degree, a twelfth part of a grain being sufficient to 
destroy a little bird with the rapidity of lightning. Aconitine is 
very fusible: it is little soluble in water, but very much so in 
alcohol and ether. Its solutions are alkaline, and it neutralizes 
acids; but its salts are not capable of being crystallized. Such is 
the account of the substance obtained by MM. Geiger and Hesse; 
but the elementary analysis has not yet been accomplished. 
I have made seyeral attempts to obtain Aconitine from the 
Parisian chemists, for the purpose of employing it in medicine, but 
have never hitherto succeeded. It is now, however, prepared in 
town, and may be had in sufficient quantity for present use, by 
those practitioners who may wish to make trial of its properties.§ 
Either of the following processes will yield it: the first is the easier 
to manipulate, but the second yieldsa much purer result, and is upon 
the whole to be preferred. | , ge 
A quantity of the fresh root of the Aconitum Napellus must be 
procured, and care should be taken that it be sound, and that the 
“Trommsdorff Neues Journal der Pharmacie, vol. 84, 
T Journal de Chimie Médicale, tom. 1—193. : 
+ Journal de Chimie Médicale, Aout, 1834. 
§ Aconitine is at present prepared by Mr. Morson, chemist, Southampton Row. 
