666 EEroKT— 1887. 



The aconitine has uow to he dissolved out from this mass hy either ether or 

 alcohol, and this must, I think, he done at a hoiling temperature, this being the 

 only part of the process in which heat is employed. 



The ether should be pure, washed from alcohol, and rendered anh3-drousby dried 

 carbonate of potash. 



The alkaloid is not very soluble in pure dry ether, and the boiling has to be 

 kept up for some time before the ether is really saturated ; it is then filtered into a 

 basin, yielding a perfectly colourless solution, and allowed to evaporate spon- 

 taneously, when nearly the whole of the alkaloid is deposited in the crystallised 

 state. The ether may be allowed to evaporate to dryness, and, although the 

 crystals deposited are very small, they give when examined by the microscope 

 uniformly shaped crystals to the end. It frequently happens, however, that a ring 

 of gummy extractive matter (almost colourless) forms around the upper rim of 

 the crystals, due, I suppose, to oxidation, which, even under the mo.st lavom-able 

 conditions, cannot be entirely prevented. I have found it necessary to add to the 

 dry crystals in the basin a few drachms of pure cold ether. The gummy matter I 

 have alluded to is very soluble in ether, but the crystallised aconitine is not, or 

 rather requires a long time before it dissolves. In this way the crystals can be 

 washed from the gummy matter, which would otherwise contaminate them, and 

 while still damp can be easily transferred to blotting paper, on which they can be 

 allowed to dry spontaneously. IJefore I adopted this plan I found considerable 

 difficulty in transferring the crystallised alkaloid from the basin to a bottle, and 

 when we consider that the 5^-- grain has been found sufficient to kill a mouse, and 

 that probably ~-^- grain is sufficient to produce very unpleasant symptoms on 

 man, it can easily be seen that the plan of damping the crystals before removing 

 them is a very necessary precaution. 



Crystallising the aconitine from alcohol has some great advantages, but counter- 

 balanced by some disadvantages. 



The alkaloid is far more soluble in alcohol than in ether, and on cooling a hot 

 saturated solution crystals are deposited very readily. I have obtained some of 

 quite a quarter of an inch in lengtli, and all the crystals produced are much better 

 defined than those deposited from ether; but unfortunately they are not white, 

 colour begins to show itself very soon after solution, and during the after-evapora- 

 tion of the alcohol the colour becomes deeper and deeper, thus proving that the 

 alkaloid is much more easily altered when in an alcoholic solution than when it is 

 held in solution in ether, amyl, alcohol, &c. This fact is also of importance as 

 helping to explain how it is that discrepant results were frequently obtained by the 

 old process of working, in which alcohol was used. My effort has been to obtain 

 the alkaloid in its unaltered condition, that is, in the state in which it exists in the 

 plant ; and this I think, by the process I have now described, and especially when 

 ether is used as the solvent, is very nearly if not quite accomplished. 



I regret to say I am without direct physiological evidence as to the medicinal 

 activity of aconitine made by the process 1 have described, but still hope that this 

 subject will form a matter of research by one of our most eminent experimentalists, 

 who has promised to take this matter up when he can spare the necessary time. 



I have commenced an investigation respecting some of the salts of this alkaloid, 

 but have not been able to continue my experiments, but I hope to be able to do so 

 shortly. The careful analysis of the different products I have obtained has not yet 

 been undei-takeu, but I hope this may be midertaken shortly. 



I may mention that I have tried this process upon a sample of what I have 

 every reason to suppose was the root of the Acxmitum ferox, but of whose identity 

 I cannot be quite certain. 



The alkaloid was yielded in good quantity, and very white, and appeared to be 

 very much more soluble both in ether and alcohol than the aconitine yielded by 

 the A. Napellus. It proved most difficult to obtain it in a crystallised form, but I 

 have lately seen a slide which under the microscope proved to be studded with 

 crystals, which appeared to be of the right shape of the true alkaloid, so that it is 

 very probable that the alkaloid from the A. ferox contains a crystallisable body 

 which may prove to be the true aconitine, but masked by some other alkaloidal 



