PREPARATION OF THE NEW ALKALOID ACONELLA. 
317 
The following passage from De Laet's JVovus Orbis seu Descriptio Indix Occi¬ 
dentalism a work held in deserved esteem, is of peculiar interest as proving that 
the custom of charring the trunks of the balsam-trees was pursued by the In¬ 
dians in early times, while the Spaniards had their own method of collecting the 
balsam. It occurs in the chapter headed u San Salvador , San Miguel , Chuluteca 
—specialis descriptio harum provinciarum et eorum qux liabent peculiaria and 
may be thus rendered : 
u On the borders of the district of Guaymoco, grow many trees which afford 
balsam; and the entire coast, which is called Tonala, produces trees the 
timber of which is exceedingly compact and heavy, and of which in a cer¬ 
tain temple there are columns fifty feet in height. In the summer the 
natives collect the juice of the balsam-tree, after slightly burning the bark 
of the stem ; but the Spaniards allow it to exude by itself: the tree bears 
fruit like almonds, which contain a golden-coloured juice.”* 
The opposite woodcut, taken from a coloured sketch made upon the spot by 
Dr. Dorat, represents the collection of the balsam at Juisnagua near Sonsonate.f 
A NEW ALKALOID POUND IN ACONITUM NAPELLUS: DE¬ 
SCRIPTION AND MODE OE PREPARATION. 
BY MESSRS. T. AND H. SMITH. 
In lately separating aconitina from Aconitum Napellus , a crystalline substance, 
new to us, presented itself, and on closer examination we found it to be pos¬ 
sessed of alkaline properties. This circumstance interested us much; and not 
knowing of any like substance having been mentioned by any one who had 
examined Aconitum Napellus , we have thought a short statement of its cha¬ 
racteristics, so far as they have yet been ascertained by us, might be acceptable 
to your readers. 
Two characters of the substance render its separation exceedingly simple and 
easy,—these are, its almost absolute insolubility in neutral watery liquids, and 
its great solubility in excess of acid. 
The juice of aconite-root having been evaporated to a soft extract, is ex¬ 
hausted with spirit of wine, and the spirit having been distilled off, the re¬ 
mainder is brought to an extract, which is also submitted to the action of spirit 
of wine, to be exhausted. 
The spirituous liquid is now mixed up with milk of lime, using l|lb. for 
every cwt. of the fresh root. After filtration sulphuric acid is added, till there is 
no further precipitate. The spirituous solution being now filtered, is submitted 
to distillation for the recovery of the spirit. The watery portion left, after the 
separation of an abundant, dark-green, fatty matter, is filtered. 
The liquid is now in a state for obtaining the new alkaloid. The liquid will 
be found strongly acid, and it is in virtue of this strong acid state that the 
substance in question is kept in solution, for it separates as soon as the acid is 
neutralized. A strong solution of carbonate of soda is therefore now added, at 
* “ In finibus Guaymoco pagi, plurimse nascuntur arbores, quse Balsamum edunt; universa- 
que ora, quam Tonalam vocant, nutrit arbores admodum firma atque ponderosa materie, e qua 
in quodam templo reperiuntur column® quinquaginta pedes alt®. Indigen® liquorem Balsami 
colhgunt estate cortice trunci leviter adusto; Hispaniautem per se emanare sinunt: fert arbor 
ilia fractus amygdalis similes, quibus inest succus aurei coloris.” Novus Orbis seu Descrip- 
tionis Indice Occidentalis, Libri xviii., authore Joanne de Laet, Lugd. Batav. 1633, lib. vii. 
c. 11. 
f 1. Tlie burning of the bark, after it has been, loosened by beating. 2. A tree to the stem 
of which rags have been applied in order to absorb the balsam as it exudes. 3. Boiling 
the saturated rags. 4. Pressing the rags after boiling. 5. Women waiting to fill the tecomates 
or gourds, and a woman so employed. 
YOL. Y. 
Z 
