6 ACONITUM NAPELLUS 



pricking of the tongue, but having only a bitter taste and being 

 almost inert. Amongst the other constituents of aconite root 

 that have been indicated, are mannite, cane sugar, resin, and fatty 

 matter. 



3. ACONITIA OE ACONITINE. This alkaloid is the constituent to 

 which all parts of the aconite plant owe their medicinal pro- 

 perties. It is a most virulent poison. Aconitia exists in both 

 an amorphous and a crystalline form. English manufacturers 

 commonly obtain aconitia from Nepal or Indian Aconite root, 

 as this root is said to yield at least three times as much alkaloid 

 as that of the English plant ; it is described under Aconitum 

 ferox. The aconitia obtained from Indian aconite root, like that 

 derived from the official aconite root, occurs in two forms 

 crystalline and amorphous, but in their chemical characteristics, 

 as noticed in the description of Indian Aconite root, they present 

 certain differences from the corresponding forms obtained from 

 Aconitum Napellus. The aconitia of the root of Aconitum ferox is 

 therefore distinguished as Pseud- aconitia or Pseud-aconitine ; it 

 has also been termed English Aconitine, Napelline (Wiggers), 

 Nepaline (Fliickiger), and Acraconitine (Ludwig). 



The characters of aconitia as obtained by the process of the 

 British Pharmacopoeia are as follows : f ' A white usually amor- 

 phous solid, soluble in 150 parts of cold, and 50 of hot water, 

 and much more soluble in alcohol and in ether ; strongly alkaline 

 to reddened litmus, neutralising acids, and precipitated from 

 them by the caustic alkalies, but not by carbonate of ammonia or 

 the bicarbonates of soda or potash. It melts with heat, and 

 burns with a smoky flame, leaving no residue when burned with 

 free access of air." According to Herapath, the average produce 

 of the fresh root collected after flowering, is 8'58 grains of aconitia 

 in the pound; of the same root dried, 35*72 grains: but if 

 obtained before flowering, the yield is only 3'5 grains in the 

 pound of fresh root; and 12'13 grains per pound in the dried 

 root. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Aconite is a powerful sedative, 

 anodyne, diuretic, and antiphlogistic; and in large doses a 



