PROCESS FOR PREPARING ACONITINE. 57 
root be that of monkshood; for sometimes other roots are sold for 
it. Let it be carefully and cautiously dried, and then reduced.to 
powder; this latter operation is not unattended by danger, especially 
if a part of the fine dust which rises from it be inhaled. One part 
by weight of the powder, and two parts by measure of strong 
alcohol, are to be digested together in a gentle heat for seven days, 
and the tincture, while warm, is to be filtered. It is then to be 
reduced to the consistence of an extract, by careful evaporation, at 
a low and well-regulated temperature ; the object of this is to prevent 
the destruction or expulsion of the active principle, which would 
very probably ensue, if the temperature employed were higher than 
barely sufficient to carry off the alcohol. To the extract thus pre- 
pared, liquid ammonia is to be added, drop by drop, and mixed 
well with it, to precipitate the alealoid; and in this part of the process 
care must be taken that too much be not added, as in some instances 
the product appears to have been decomposed by inattention to this 
circumstance. It is difficult to give a precise rule as to the quantity ; 
but enough will have been added, if the extract give out the odour 
of ammonia, when stirred. ‘ | 
The mass now consists of impure Aconitine, mixed up with a 
quantity of extractive and other matters, soluble in water; and it 
may be taken up either with boiling alcohol, or sulphuric ether; or 
the soluble matter may be removed, by repeated washings with 
small quantities of cold water, which will leave the Aconitine. This 
latter process is the one we have generally employed, and is per- 
formed by pouring a little water on the extract, and mixing them 
carefully together, then allowing the undissolved part to subside, 
pouring off the fluid, and repeating the operation, as long as any 
soluble matter is taken up, a quantity of light brown or grey powder 
is left, which may be purified by subsequent solution in alcohol. 
This powder contains the active properties of the Aconite, in a high 
degree of concentration. A grain of it was dissolved in a drachm 
of alcohol; and twenty drops of the solution put into the mouth of a 
guinea-pig occasioned death in a few minutes. Other experiments 
have been performed, all of which prove the extreme energy of the 
substance. 3 OES 
The second process consists in dissolving the alcoholic extract, 
prepared as before, without the addition of the ammonia, in as much 
cold water as will take it up, and carefully decanting the solution 
from the insoluble part, and then filtering it. To the filtered solu- 
tion liquid ammonia is to be added, drop by drop, as long as it 
occasions any precipitation. When the precipitate has subsided, the 
supernatant fluid should be carefully poured away, or drawn off by — 
means of a syphon; and after the precipitate has been deprived of 
as much of the fluid as possible, it should be purified by a sufficient 
number of washings with small quantities of cold water, or, what is 
better, it may be dissolved in as much alcohol as will take it up, 
and the solution thrown into cold water; and the precipitate thus 
JANUARY, 1838.—/" 6 
