HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



. Brucine is turned first pink by concentrated 

 sulphuric acid, and then deepens to blood-red.* 



The crystallisation of alkaloids is of a very con- 

 stant character in each case, and the microscopical 

 examination of their crystals often enables us to 

 identify the alkaloids when other means fail, on 

 account of their not being affected by the usual re- 

 agents in the very diluted state in which they are 

 sometimes found. Here, then, we must again seek 

 the aid of the most entertaining, and at the same 

 time, most useful of scientific instruments — the micro- 

 scope, and we shall obtain, as usual, the most sur- 

 prising and wonderful results. The smallest crystals 

 of alkaloids can be determined by examination under 

 £he microscope. Dr. Wormley states that micro- 

 chemical analysis enables us by a very few minutes' 

 labour to recognise with unerring certainty the re- 

 action of the ioo,oooth part of a grain of prussic acid 

 or arsenic. Fluids containing alkaloids in such 

 minute quantities as would not answer to chemical 

 pro:edure maybe detected in the following way : — 

 A drop of water containing infusoria is placed, un- 

 covered, on a slide, and whilst this is being examined 

 under a suitable power, a little of the suspected fluid 

 is applied, when, if an organic poison be present, the 

 infusoria will fall in a formless sediment. The 

 15,000,000th part of a grain of atropine, it is said, 

 may be thus detected! (Professor Rossbach). In 

 fact, as the late Dr. Carpenter says, in the last 

 sentence of his work on "The Microscope," "By 

 the careful prosecution ot micro-chemical inquiry, 

 especially with the aid of the spectroscope (where 

 admissible), the detection of poisons and other sub- 

 stances in very minute quantity can be accomplished 

 with such facility and certainty as were formerly 

 scarcely conceivable." 



After this necessarily short sketch of the nature, 

 properties, and effects of vegetable poisons, I will 

 proceed to enumerate, as briefly as possible, the 

 different cases in which poisons occur in the plants of 

 the British flora, etc. 



The first natural order, that of the Ranunculace^e, 

 is a very poisonous one, almost all of its members 

 possessing more or less strong acrid or narcotic-acrid 

 properties. 



Anemone Pulsatilla, nemorosa. — The pasque-flower 

 and wood anemone contain an acrid alkaloid, 

 anemonine, which acts chiefly as a caustic by in- 

 flaming and blistering the skin. \\ oz. of the fresh 

 juice of Pulsatilla introduced into the stomach of a 

 dog, caused its death, after six hours. Nemorosa is 

 not as strong in its effects. 



Ranunculus. — Most of our buttercups contain an 

 »rritant substance, which is strongest in acris. 3 oz. 

 of the juice of arvensis killed a dog in four minutes. 

 The juice is so caustic that the hands of children 



* For further information on this point see any of the 

 numerous works on medical chemistry, or Wittstein's excellent 

 treatise on "The Organic Constituents of Plants," F. von 

 RKiller's translation, Melbourne, 1878. 



I°5 



sometimes are inflamed and blistered by grasping 

 their bruised stems in hot weather. Beggars are 

 said to employ them to ulcerate their feet and legs for 

 the purpose of exciting compassion. R. aquatilis is 

 destitute of this acrid principle and the others lose it 

 if completely dessicated. 



Helleborus feetidus and viridis contain a fatty oil 

 which is a narcotic-irritant. Two dessert-spoonfuls 

 of the infusion of fatidus killed a child in thirteen 

 hours. A decoction of J dram of the root of (//. 

 niger) * killed a strong horse in ten minutes, and even 

 its pollen is believed to be poisonous. 



Delphinium Ajacis and (Staphis agria). — The lark- 

 spurs produce an acrid alkaloid, delphinine. This is 

 present in the leaves and stems, and, in great quan- 

 tity, in the seeds, which are very poisonous. 



Aconitum napellus. — The pretty monkshood, so 

 often grown in our gardens, is a most dangerous 

 plant. Every part of it is full of a narcotic-acrid 

 alkaloid, the aconitine, of a very deadly nature. 

 When taken it produces a feeling of great constric- 

 tion in the throat, sometimes amounting to choking, 

 and even a small dose often leads, through madness, 

 to death. Chewing one single seed will cause an 

 alarming and painful swelling of the tongue and lips. 

 The toxic nature of this plant has been known since 

 the days of the Romans. The resemblance which its 

 leaves bear to parsley, and its root to horse-radish, 

 render it all the more dangerous. The root of the 

 monkshood is fusiform, black, and gives off numerous 

 rootlets ; that of the horse-radish is much longer, of 

 a more uniform thickness throughout, yellowish in 

 colour and with only a few root-fibres. The juice of 

 (A. ferox) is so violent that it is used in India for 

 poisoning the arrows of tiger-traps, etc. 



Pap AVE raceme. — Papaver somniferum, etc. The 

 thick milky fluid that oozes from the stem of a poppy 

 when cut is powerfully narcotic, and furnishes the 

 opium of commerce. Opium is obtained from in- 

 cisions made in the unripe seed-vessel of the oriental 

 plant. It contains several poisonous alkaloids, viz., 

 morphine, narcotine, meconine, thebaine, etc., and 

 its effects have been often described. It acts as a 

 poison on all animals and even on some plants ; it 

 can enter the system by different ways and soon 

 diffuses itself throughout. A person has been poi- 

 soned by simply holding a lump of opium in the hand 

 on a hot day. In small doses, J to 1 grain, it excites 

 all the physical functions and increases the activity of 

 the brain. The dose required to poison a man varies 

 very much with the person and habit, and of course, 

 opium-smokers can absorb a quantity of the poison 

 which to us would prove dangerous. Laudanum, an 

 alcoholic solution of opium, in great use for allaying 

 pain, is stronger than a simple aqueous solution 

 thereof, as morphine, the narcotic principle, is readily 

 soluble in alcohol, but not in water. It should, 



* Names between parenthesis marks ( ) refer to plants not 

 native in Great Britain. 



