Cushman — Post-Mortem Detection of Strychnine. 541 
85 per cent of water. Four lots of about 100 grams each 
were measured out into breakers. Into each of the first two 
of these was weighed exactly 25 mgs. of a sample of Merck’s 
strychnine sulphate, which I satisfied myself by careful 
analysis to have the formula (C21 Hee N2 O2)2 He SO4; 5He O. 
Twenty-five mgs. of this salt were therefore equal to 19.5 
mgs. of the alkaloid. One analysis yielded 19.4 mgs., the 
other 19 mgs. of the alkaloid, an average of 98.4 per cent. 
Into each of the other two breakers 20 mgs. of pure strychnine 
alkaloid was weighed. One analysis yielded 17.6 mgs., the 
other 18.6 mgs., an average of 90.5 per cent. 
The next trials were made on a mixture of 200 grams of 
meat-hash, 50 grams sugar, 5 grams starch and 500 grams 
water. Into this 80 mgs. of the pure alkaloid dissolved in a 
little dilute acetic acid was thoroughly stirred and the mixture 
set away in a warm place for two weeks. At the end of this 
time the whole mass was weighed and portions taken for 
analysis, the analyst being unaware of the amount of strych- 
nine that had been added. The results of the analysis were 
as follows: — 
Total welgwt Of mit tare 65 1. ha ees 753 grams. 
I. 216 grams of mixture gave 20.1 mg. strychnine. 
et wid ibis 25.6 m, nes 
Calculated for 753 grams mixture. 
Actually 
be ai, weighed in 
MEL cc iencuteteentosacseveshoconses accak 70.07 67.17 80 
PATI a a 5 iis seb ke winks iva einen bs en tins es 1.08 1,04 1.23 
Per cent recovered sisi vs ost OKRA 87.8 86.2 
As a result of these experiments we are led to believe that 
the method as described can be depended upon to recover 
more than 85 per cent of the amount of strychnine present 
in complex organic mixtures. 
The method has been used in working on two separate cases 
of suspected strychnine poisoning, in both of which the alka- 
loid was easily detected. 
