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THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [November 12, 1870. 
fering should ever have been induced to swallow so 
many beastly compounds. We imagine the fact to 
be in great measure explained by the secrecy with 
which the apothecary surrounded his concoctions. 
Be that as it may, the reminiscences of the not very 
long past, enable us to institute a most satisfactory 
comparison as regards the doings and knowledge of 
our immediate ancestors and ourselves relative to the 
practice of pharmacy, and give us much encourage¬ 
ment for the future. Whether our practice at the 
present day will cut, to the generation to come, as 
sorry a figure and excite as great a laugh as does 
that of the last century, is a matter upon which we 
may freely speculate. Who will venture to say with 
any confidence in this age of rapid progress, when 
to-morrow revolutionizes the tilings of yesterday, 
that this may not be the case ? 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF THE 
ACONITE ALKALOIDS. 
BY DR. TH. HUSEMANN, OF GOTTINGEN. 
The researches made by the author, in conjunc¬ 
tion with Professor A. Husemann, on plant-products, 
enable him in answering the question proposed by 
Fliickiger to offer some additional remarks. In the 
first place he agrees that the name pseudaconitina 
ought to be retained, and he prefers it to nepaline, 
in which is involved a theory as to its origin. Aco- 
nitina is a body whose physiological action is better 
understood than its chemical relations. 
The physiological actions of pseudaconitina and of 
aconitina, when applied externally, differ in this re¬ 
spect ; the former acts similarly to veratria, the latter 
not. Taken internally, pseudaconitina is given in 
much smaller doses than aconitina, and then often 
acts fatally. They both depress the action of the 
heart and lungs, and act similarly, but unequally, on 
the bowels. 
Adelheim could perceive only a difference in 
strength between aconitina and pseudaconitina de¬ 
rived from Aconitum ferox. 
Keeping these distinctive characteristics in view, 
we may conclude that “ so long as aconitina has been 
used in Great Britain, pseudaconitina has most fre¬ 
quently been used in the place of it.” 
Turnbull’s aconitina was said by him to cause 
numbness and contraction, with a feeling of weight 
lasting from two to twelve hours when applied ex¬ 
ternally. But soon after its introduction differences 
in the quality of the alkaloids were noticed; some 
being much stronger than others, some dilating, some 
expanding the pupil. So late as 1854, Hilton and 
others were inquiring as to the kind of aconitina 
that could have produced effects on the skin similar 
to veratria. 
Fleming found that 0 milligrams exhibited by the 
stomach, or 5. milligrams subcutaneously, caused 
death in 11 minutes. The alkaloid was made by 
T. and H. Smith from the leaves of Aconitum Na- 
joellus. 
Schroffs experiments with Morson’s aconitina 
show results very similar. 
Headland, using an alkaloid prepared by himself 
from Aconitum ferox, found 6 milligrams to kill a 
cat in 20 minutes. 
Exact experiment as to the action of pseudaconi¬ 
tina on men is confined to one by Pereira, who found 
1° milligrams to have a violent and dangerous 
effect. ° 
It is clear, then, that the English aconitina does 
differ from that of Geiger and Hesse. This is also 
proved by the want of activity as a topical application 
evidenced by the German alkaloid. 
The author is decidedly of opinion that pseud¬ 
aconitina should not be regarded as a mere impurity, 
but as the real, active principle, for which the Swiss 
aconitina has, without cause, been substituted. He 
thinks we ought to endeavour to introduce pseud¬ 
aconitina as well as aconitina into the dispensary, 
and discover a method of preparing the first hi a 
pure state, whereby we should be in a position to 
have a constant preparation of real efficacy in the 
treatment of neuralgia. 
From liis own experience he states that rabbits 
have survived from 1 to 2 grains of German aco¬ 
nitina dissolved in water, and introduced through the 
mouth; i. e. from twelve to twenty-four times as 
much as would be required of pseudaconitina. Others 
have quoted similar experiences. 
He cannot admit that English aconitina owes its 
virtues to an impurity, but rather that pseudaconitina 
is the substance to which English aconitina owes its 
reputation; in which case the term impurity would, 
of course, be inappropriate. Since 1864 even, two 
kinds of aconite alkaloid were obtainable in the 
London market; the one, pseudaconitina, sold as 
pure aconitina; the other, aconitina, of presumed 
foreign manufacture, impure and useless. Of this 
fact both pharmaceutists and doctors have more or 
less been aware for some time. 
Probably the present state of the aconitina trade 
is occasioned by the scarcity of bikli root in the 
English market, from which we believe pseudaconi¬ 
tina is derived. Headland has stated that with great 
care pseudaconitina may be extracted from Aconitum 
Napellus in very small quantity. T. and H. Smith 
appear to have done this. The method adopted by 
Morson is not known, he having declined to give 
information thereupon; further than that his method 
is a peculiar one. Perhaps after all his method de¬ 
pends on the selection of the roots operated on. 
As regards the colour tests of these alkaloids, 
Husemann remarks that according to Adelheim, the 
colour reaction (phosphoric acid ?) is as well marked 
with pseudaconitina as with aconitina. 
Great doubt still hangs over the various other al¬ 
kaloids said to have been derived from the genus 
Aconitum. 
Buckheim and Lisenmenger seem to have esta¬ 
blished a distinction between napellin and acolyctin, 
and have proved that napellin and lycoctonin are 
inferior in activity to aconitina.— Abstract of Paper 
in Ncues Jahrbuch cler Pharmacic. 
CHEMICAL NOTES TO THE PHARMACOPOEIA. 
BY WILLIAM A. TILDEN, B.SC. LOND. 
DEMONSTRATOR OF PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY TO THE 
PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY. 
Acidum Tannicum. C 27 H 22 0 17 . Powdered galls 
are damped with water, and then made into a paste 
until ether. On submitting the mass to pressure a 
strong solution of tannin is obtained, which is evapo¬ 
rated at first spontaneously, and at last in an oven 
at the temperature of boiling water. The tannin is 
