Pelletier and Caventou on Strychnine. 219 
pounds of this seed, and have redoubled our attention in the ex- 
amination of the phenomena. ; 
The colouring matter was first precipitated by subacetate of 
lead ; the filtered liquid contained an excess of acetate of lead ; 
a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen threw down the metal; the 
filtered liquid was concentrated to about one fourth of its vo- 
lume, and then treated with pure magnesia. After some minutes 
of ebullition, the magnesian precipitate was separated by the 
filter, and after washing it with three waters, and drying it by 
the stove, it was subjected to the action of alcohol. The waters 
ofthe filtration and washings were set aside to be subsequently 
examined. 
Alcohol digested on the magnesian precipitate is slightly co- 
loured, and its taste becomes very bitter. Evaporated at the 
water bath, it gave a magmaof a dirty white, which after be- 
coming cold, was thrown upon a filter ; then washed in the cold 
with a little weak alcohol. The matter was deprived of its co- 
iouring particles, and by desiccation in the air yielded a white 
powder weighing thirty-six grains. 
This matter presented all the characters of strychnine, such as 
they had formerly described it. It had a very bitter taste. It 
was very soluble in alcohol, and crystallized in it. It was 
strongly reddened by concentrated nitric acid. It formed with 
the same acid diluted, a crystallizable salt, in pearly needles; 
and, finally, was so poisonous, that a grain was sufficient to 
kill a cat in five or six minutes. The authors have presented 
to the Section of Pharmacy a portion of this strychnine, which 
may be compared with the samples of strychnine procured by 
the two other processes. 
Strychnine dissolves in hydro-cyanic acid, but by evaporation 
all the acid is disengaged, and the alkali remains pure. 
In a postscript to the above memoir, the authors remark that 
subsequent experiments have led to some modifications of their 
statements; for example, the crystals obtained from the aqueous 
washings of the magnesian precipitate, of the first process, are 
not crystals of strychnine, but brucine; a substance which may 
be confounded with the other, without a scrupulous examination. 
The bean of Saint Ignatius, Strychnos Jgnatia, contains also 
brucine, but in smaller proportion than the Strychnos Nux 
Vomica. 
