Adulteration of Pale Ales by Strychnine. 267 



tallic salt. The bitter of strychnine is, indeed, easily distin- 

 guishable from that of the hop, when deliberately tasted. 



Still it would be highly desirable to be able to identify 

 strychnine in beer, by the actual extraction of the substance, 

 and the application to it of a chemical test of absolute cer- 

 tainty. Fortunately those poisons which have the most vio- 

 lent action upon the animal economy, possess often also the 

 best marked reactions, or their physiological and chemical 

 properties are equally salient. Thus, arsenic and hydrocy- 

 anic acid are the most easily detected of chemical substances ; 

 and strychnine proves to be not far behind them in this re- 

 spect. *"* < 3 ™ d naiwhtf « aiai »i> doWw V bi0l t' 



A quantity of strychnine, not exceeding To -Vo tn or> a grain, is 

 tested and recognised to be strychnine in the following man- 

 ner. The powder is moistened with a single drop of undi- 

 luted sulphuric acid, and a small fragment of chromate of 

 potash placed in the liquid. A beautiful and most intense 

 violet tint immediately appears at the points of contact, and 

 is speedily diffused over the whole liquid. Although most 

 intense, the colour disappears entirely again in a few minutes. 

 The admixture of the smallest quantity of organic matter, 

 however, interferes with the success of the process. In order 

 to apply the test, in operating upon a complex liquid like beer, 

 the strychnine must first be extracted from the liquid and 

 obtained in a pure or nearly pure condition. This difficulty, 

 which appears at first considerable, may be readily sur- 

 mounted, and the strychnine, if it really exist in beer, be se- 

 parated, and its nature established in the most certain manner. 



For this purpose, two ounces of ivory black, or animal 

 charcoal were shaken in half a gallon of beer, to which half 

 a grain of strychnine had been purposely added. After stand- 

 ing over night, the liquid was found to be nearly deprived of 

 all bitterness ; the strychnine being absorbed by the charcoal. 

 The liquid was now passed through a paper filter, upon which 

 the charcoal containing the strychnine was collected and 

 drained. noqir 



The next step was to separate the strychnine from the 

 charcoal. This was readily effected by boiling the mixture 

 for half an hour in eight ounces of ordinary spirits of wine, 



