28 Historical Sketch of Improvements in [July, 



with the properties of morphia and picrotoxia, and a brief account 

 has been given of those of strychnia and brucia; but I think it 

 requisite here to give the processes for obtaining these bodies, 

 and to describe their characters, as w^ell as those of delphia, of 

 which hitherto no notice has been taken in the Annals of Philo- 

 scyphy. 



1. Strychnia. — This alkahne substance was detected by Pel- 

 letier and Caventou in the fruit of the st7'ychnos mix vomica, and 

 strycknos ignatia, about the end of the year 1818. They at first 

 gave it the name of vauqueline ; but were induced to alter that 

 appellation when it was represented to them that it was improper 

 to give the name of so distinguished a chemist as M. Vauquelin 

 to one of the most deleterious of the vegetable principles. It 

 was obtained from the bean of the strychnos ignatia by the 

 following process : The bean was rasped down as small as possi- 

 ble. It was then exposed to the action of nitric ether in a 

 Papin's digester. The residue thus deprived of a quantity of 

 fatty matter was digested in alcohol as long as that reagent was 

 capable of dissolving any thing. The alcoholic solutions were 

 evaporated to dryness, and the residue redissolved in water. 

 Caustic potash being dropped into the solution, a white crystal- 

 line precipitate fell, which was strychnia. It was purified by 

 washing it in cold water, dissolving it in alcohol, and crystalliz- 

 ing it. Strychnia was obtained likewise from the bean of the 

 strychnos ignatia by boiling the infusion of the bean with mag- 

 nesia in the same manner as Robiquet had obtained morphia 

 from the infusion of opium. 



The properties of strychnia, when in a state of purity, are as 

 follows : 



It is crystallized in very small four-sided prisms, terminated 

 by four-sided low pyramids. It has a white colour, its taste is 

 intolerably bitter, leaving a metallic impression in the mouth. It 

 is destitute of smell. It is not altered by exposure to the air. It 

 is neither fusible nor volatile, except at temperatures at which it 

 undergoes decomposition. It is charred at the temperature at 

 which oil enters into ebullition (about 580°). When strongly 

 heated, it swells up, blackens, gives out empyreumatic oil, a 

 little water and acetic acid ; carbonic acid and carburetted 

 hydrogen gases are disengaged, and a bulky charcoal remains 

 behind. When heated with peroxide of copper, it gives out 

 only carbonic acid gas and water. It is very little soluble in 

 cold water, 100,000 parts of that hquid dissolving only 15 parts 

 of strychnia ; but it dissolves in 2,500 times its weight of boding 

 water. A cold solution of strychnia in water may be diluted 

 with 100 times its volume of that hquid without losing its bitter 

 taste. 



When strychnia is introduced into the stomach, it acts with 

 prodigious energy. A locked jaw is induced in a very short time, 

 and the animal is speedily destroyed. Half a grain of strychnia 



