10 
ON THE SUBLIMATION OF THE ALKALOIDS. 
federation would bring men together, and Montreal was the commercial 
centre to which they would naturally look for leaders. He therefore sug¬ 
gested that the Committee be empowered to confer with chemists in other 
towns, and see how far such a course would meet with general support. 
Mr. Harte concurred in this view; but it was ultimately agreed to form a 
local Society first, and all present (about thirty in number) gave in their 
names in support of the new Chemists’ Association. 
The meeting then adjourned, a day being fixed to receive the report of the 
Committee. 
Montreal, June 7th, 1867. J. B. E. 
ORIGINAL AND EXTRACTED ARTICLES. 
ON THE SUBLIMATION OF THE ALKALOIDS. 
BY WILLIAM A. GUY, M.B., F.R.S., F.R.C.P., 
PROFESSOR OF FORENSIC MEDICINE, KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON, ETC. 
II. 
I now proceed to examine those parts of the work of Dr. Helwig which relate 
to the sublimation of the alkaloids, premising that his inquiry is restricted to 
the eight poisonous alkaloids,—morphine, strychnine, brucine, veratrine, atro¬ 
pine, aconitine, solanine, and digitaline.* To these bodies he applies the method 
of sublimation : and obtains, in the case of some of them, satisfactory and cha¬ 
racteristic crusts, and in that of others crusts of less defined structure, but 
yieldiug equally characteristic reactions. He tells us that he has never used for 
this purpose a larger quantity of any alkaloid than the of a grain ; and he 
adds that, in nearly all his experiments, he finds that quantity not only too 
large, but unfavourable to the beauty of the results. He obtains these small 
quantities by continued dilution and drop-measurement. This method of sub¬ 
limation he believes to be of the greatest value in its application both to metallic 
and to vegetable poisons, inasmuch, as by it a succession of hitherto quite un¬ 
known, and highly characteristic, data for diagnosis are secured ; and he thinks 
that these assertions are made good in the chapters which treat of the poisons in 
detail. 
Let us then turn to these chapters, and see what information they afford as 
to the points upon which we should naturally wish to be instructed. 
1. Under the head of morphine , w r e learn that the one-thousandth of a grain 
of this alkaloid is sufficient to give a perfectly serviceable sublimate ; and that 
such a sublimate, besides yielding the same reactions as the solutions of its salts, 
assumes characteristic crystalline forms with distilled water, liq. ammonise, and 
dilute hydrochloric acid, these last of extraordinary beauty. 
2. The sublimate obtained from strychnine is characterized by the quickness 
and beauty of its reactions with distilled water, liq. ammonise, dilute hydro¬ 
chloric acid, and dilute chromic acid, of which the last yields results of extra¬ 
ordinary beauty and rare diagnostic value. The smallest quantity which will 
yield a sublimate is not specified. 
3. Brucine does not yield such rich sublimates as the two preceding ; but 
they are represented to have the same formation. Nor are their reactions so 
satisfactory. No distinct crystalline forms are developed by distilled water or 
* In strict chemical language, the last of the group, digitaline, is a glucoside, and not an 
alkaloid, a fact recognized by Dr. Helwig. 
