258 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



melting point, 180 C. ; III., melting 

 point, 91-109 C; IV., melting point, 

 83-97° C.; V., melting point, 183-184 

 C; VI., melting point, 195 C. 



I., II., V. and VI. are hence probably 

 made up of one substance, but III. and 

 IV. are unquestionably a mixture of 

 several substances. They were then 

 titrated with decinormal sulphuric acid, 

 1 cc. of this being regarded as represent- 

 ing 0.0645 g m - °f aconitine according to 

 the formula for aconitine established by 

 Dr. Freund, which is C^H^NOj x = 

 645. If these products were pure aconi- 

 tine they should have yielded the same, 

 amount of this alkaloid as was weighed 

 off and taken to be titrated. In no case 

 was this found to be true, but instead 

 the following observations were made : 



I. yielded 10.06 per cent, more aconi- 

 tine than was weighed off ; II, 10.7 per 

 cent.; III., 11. 4 per cent.; IV., 11. 3 per 

 cent., V., 1 1.8 per cent. ; VI., 11.4 per 

 cent. 



This indicates that in all the products 

 there is contained some substance whose 

 molecular weight is less than that of 

 aconitine, and is probably hence a de- 

 composition product of aconitine. The 

 remaining alkaloids of aconite root are 

 too little known to enable one to devise 

 a reliable method of determining them or 

 the aconitine, and as they may all be con- 

 tained in the sample under examination, 

 and may accompany the aconitine present 

 throughout all its decompositions and 

 changes, all methods of assay can at best 

 be approximations until we do know 

 more about them. Assuming that aconi- 

 tine, i. e. acetyl-benzoyl-aeonine, alone 

 of all the aconite alkaloids is saponified 

 into aconine, benzoic acid and acetic acid 

 by alkalies, an attempt was made to sa- 

 ponify all the samples under examina- 

 tion by means of alcoholic potash, and 

 then collect the benzoic acid upon a 

 weighed filter, For each molecule of 



benzoic acid formed one molecule of 

 aconitine is to be regarded as present, the 

 calculation being — 



Molecular weight benzoic acid (122): 

 molecular weight aconitine (645):. 

 weight in grams of acid found : weight 

 in grams of pure aconitine present. 



Knowing the amount of aconitine 

 originally taken for assay, the percent- 

 age of pure aconitine can be determined. 

 Thus in case of our products : 



I. Aconitine taken— 0519 gm. and 

 benzoic acid found — 0.60 gm., equivalent 

 to 61. 1 per cent, pure aconitine. 



II. Aconitine taken — 0.791 gm. and 

 benzoic acid found — 0.095 g m -. equi- 

 valent to 63.5 per cent, pure aconitine. 



III. Aconitine taken — 0.4365 gm. 

 and benzoic acid found — o 063 gm., equi- 

 valent to 76 per cent, aconitine. 



IV. Aconitine taken — 0.398 gm. and 

 benzoic acid found-o 058 gm. , equivalent 

 to 77 per cent, aconitine. 



V. Aconitine taken — 0.4135 gm. and 

 benzoic acid found-o. 068 gm., equivalent 

 to 87 per cent, pure aconitine. 



VI. Aconitine taken — 0.5680 gm. and 

 benzoic acid found-o. 083 gm., equivalent 

 to 77.2 per cent, pure aconitine. 



It has been averred by a recent in- 

 vestigator of aconitine that the benzoic 

 acid obtained as a result of the saponifi- 

 cation of the aconitine is derived from an 

 intermediate product, benz aconine, be- 

 tween aconitine and aconine, and that the 

 acetic acid is derived from the crystal- 

 lized aconitine, thus making the de- 

 termination of the acetic acid as a means 

 of assaying the drug. Let me ask him — 

 may not other alkaloids of aconite root 

 besides either aconitine or benz-aconine 

 be present that might yield acetic acid, 

 and thus be counted as aconitine ? At 

 any rate, a standardized solution of al- 

 coholic potash was freshly made and 

 used for the saponification experiments, 

 it being supposed that this would neutral- 



