58 | TURNBULL ON RANUNCULACE. 
formed is to be carefully dried. The product obtained by this 
process is white. 3 . 3 
External Application of Aconitine. 
Ir has already been stated, that if a grain or two of Veratria or 
Delphinia be mixed up with a little lard, or dissolved in a drachm 
of alcohol, and a small quantity be rubbed upon the skin of the 
forehead or other tender part, a sensation of heat and tingling will 
be experienced, after the friction has been continued for a minute or 
two. If the same procedure be followed with the Aconitine, a 
similar result will be obtained. The sensations produced by the 
three substances differ, however, in a few particulars. When Vera- 
tria is employed, it produces a strong sensation of tingling or rather 
a sharp feeling, similar to that produced by receiving a succession 
of electric sparks on an uncovered part of the body ; whilst the 
Delphinia gives rise to a sensation of.burning, not unlike that which 
manifests itself a short time after the application of a blister, but not 
to an unpleasant degree. 3 
The Aconitine is possessed of an action similar, in some respects 
at least, to that of Delphinia. When a small quantity of it, either 
made into an ointment, or dissolved in alcohol, is rubbed fora 
minute or two upon the skin, a sensation of heat and prickling is 
experienced ; to this, succeeds a feeling of numbness and constric- 
tion in the part, as if a heavy weight were laid upon it, or as if the 
skin were drawn together, by the powerful and involuntary contrac- 
tion of the muscles beneath. This effect lasts from two or three, 
to twelve or more hours, according to the quantity rubbed in. So 
small a portion as the one-hundreth part of a grain has produced a 
_ Sensation that has continued a whole day; but the alcoloid, in this 
instance, was in a high degree of purity. 
The action of the Aconitine upon the cutaneous vessels, appears 
to be less than that of either Veratria or Delphinia ; for in no case 
hitherto observed, has it produced a greater degree of vascular ex- 
citement than might easily be accounted for by the friction itself ; 
and in one instance where the Veratria ointment did occasion irrita- 
tion, the Aconitine has been employed without giving rise to any. 
The diseases in which I have chiefly employed the Aconitine 
externally, are Tic-Douloureux and Neuralgic affections generally, 
and in gouty and rheumatic cases; and its success has fully answered 
the anticipations that had been formed of its utility. It may be 
employed in the form of solution in alcohol, in the proportion of 
one or more grains to the drachm, and in ointment, made according 
to the following prescription :— 
R. Aconitinz, gr. ii. | 
Alcohol, gtt. vi. tere optime 
et adde, Axung, 3 i. ut fiat unguent. 
The object of adding the alcohol, is to prevent the Aconitine from 
