818 
PREPARATION OF THE NEW ALKALOID ACONELLA. 
first very freely, as strong effervescence on the addition of more soda shows 
unmistakably the existence of excess of acid. Towards the end, however, the 
addition of the alkali must be more carefully made, and at considerable inter¬ 
vals ; at the same time taking care to stir repeatedly and briskly. When the 
fluid has been brought to a nearly neutral state, but still slightly acid, it is to 
be left to itself for a day or two. None of the aconitina can be thrown down till 
the liquid become alkaline. 
The next step to be taken is to filter the liquid from the abundant precipi¬ 
tate, which separates partly as a loose powder, and partly as a crystalline de¬ 
posit on the sides of the precipitating vessel. This precipitate gives the new 
body observed by us, and, so far as w r e are aware, for the first time now de¬ 
scribed. We propose to name it Aconella. 
It is easily obtained pure in snow-white crystalline tufts, by repeated crystal¬ 
lization from boiling spirit, with the aid of a little pure animal charcoal; for 
although it is very sparingly soluble in cold spirit, it has considerable solubility 
in boiling spirit, from which it readily crystallizes almost entirely on cooling. 
Aconella is very insoluble in water, so much so that if a fraction of a grain 
be dissolved in a few ounces of water weakly acidulated, the clear liquid, on 
the addition of an excess of ammonia, becomes quite milky. It is soluble in 
1T4 parts by measure of boiling rectified spirit (density ’840), but on cooling 
only about part is retained in solution. 
It is moderately soluble in sulphuric ether, much more so in acetic ether, 
and quite remarkably so in chloroform,—comparable to camphor in this liquid, 
or powdered sugar in water. 
It burns entirely away on platinum foil. When heated with soda lime, 
abundance of ammoniacal vapour is given off. 
Aconella is precipitated from watery solutions by tincture of iodine. 
Tannin does not precipitate the muriate, but the oxalate is precipitated by it. 
Corrosive sublimate precipitates aconella, as do also the terchloride of gold and 
the chloride of platinum. 
One remarkable character belonging to it is its great tendency to crystallize, 
equalling, perhaps, in this respect even cantharicline itself, and thus permit¬ 
ting of its being confounded with but very few other bodies. 
It will be unnecessary to give more than one very striking example to prove 
this. On evaporating two ounces of a cold saturated spirituous solution contain¬ 
ing about three grains of the alkaloid to dryness, in a flat Berlin dish, and at a heat 
of about 120° Falir. ; instead of drying up, as might have been anticipated, in 
an amorphous state, every particle of the substance showed itself in a beau¬ 
tiful crystalline condition, white shining needles covering the whole bottom of 
the dish. 
Although insoluble in water, it is very soluble in all the acids we have yet 
tried ; and although these solutions be made in the presence of a large excess of 
the base, they invariably redden litmus; still, although such be the case, aconella, 
weakly however, turns reddened litmus-paper blue; for if a faintly reddened 
piece of litmus-paper be put into a boiling-hot spirituous solution, the blue 
colour of the test-paper slowly but unmistakably returns. Readily crystal- 
lizable as the alkaloid itself is, we have not yet succeeded in getting any of its 
salts to crystallize, with the exception of the muriate ; and even this salt crys¬ 
tallizes but slowly. If, however, the pure alkaloid be dissolved in spirit by the 
aid of muriatic acid in a glass beaker, and the beaker be then set aside un¬ 
covered, at the ordinary temperature, in the course of a few days at about an 
inch from the surface of the liquid, a broad ring of most beautifully delicate 
radiated crystals make their appearance; and in some days more the now com¬ 
paratively watery liquid sets into a mass of snow-white, foggy tufts, arranged 
round the bottom of the beaker in amphitheatre-like form, so as to leave the 
glass at the centre of the bottom quite clear and bright. 
