THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[January 27, 1872. 
601 
Although these analyses show the elementary 
composition of the alkaloid and furnish its formula, 
its true chemical composition and the manner in 
which its elements are grouped have not yet been 
thoroughly studied ; meanwhile, M. Duquesnel thinks 
that its comportment, in its own extractive liquor 
and in the presence of certain foreign bodies, and 
some of its reactions, tend to show that it is a gluco- 
side, to which class some of the active principles of 
plants of the same Order (. Ranunculacea ) are known 
to belong. For instance, pure aconitine, which has 
no sensible effect upon Feliling’s liquor, gives a 
very marked reaction after prolonged boiling in the 
presence of a dilute mineral acid. Moreover, placed 
in contact with a ferment, such as beer yeast, air, 
and a certain quantity of water, carbonic acid is 
disengaged, a characteristic of sugar. At present, 
it is not known under what influence, or in the pre¬ 
sence of what ferment, its decomposition takes 
place; but it is a well-established fact, that pure 
aconitine, which is not rapidly decomposed even in 
£tn acid solution at 100° C., disappears quickly in 
the liquid extract at the same temperature. Under 
this hypothesis, that aconitine is a glucoside, it 
would be easy to explain the alterations which take 
place in certain pharmaceutical preparations, such 
as the powdered leaves, the tincture of the leaves, 
and especially the extract from the juice of the 
leaves, which loses all its active properties during 
its preparation. 
Crystallized aconitine is inodorous, and possesses 
an intensely bitter taste; this bitter taste is quickly 
followed by a pricking and tingling sensation, deve¬ 
loped principally on the circumference of the tongue, 
which is very characteristic of aconitine. It is not 
volatile at a temperature of 100° C., and even in the 
presence of boiling water it preserves its form and 
properties. At from 100° C. to 140° C. it is not de¬ 
composed ; the crystals preserve their form, but ac¬ 
quire a yellow tint which deepens with elevation of 
the temperature. At above 140° C. the alkaloid be¬ 
gins to melt, taking a brown tinge; at this tempe¬ 
rature it appears to be partially volatilized, rhombic 
crystals having been detected by the aid of a strong 
glass in the upper part of the tube used. The un¬ 
volatilized portion is decomposed into acid vapours 
and a carbonaceous residue that disappears en¬ 
tirely when heated in contact with air. Although 
some authors have supposed that the aconite con¬ 
tains an acrid volatile principle, to which it owes 
much of its activity, and have attributed the changes 
in the preparations and inconveniences met with 
while operating to its volatilization, M. Duquesnel 
agrees with M. Hottot and Mr. Groves,* in thinking 
that the aconite contains no such principle. 
Crystallized aconitine is soluble in alcohol, ether, 
acetic ether, benzine, and especially chloroform, 
which is its best solvent. A very concentrated solu¬ 
tion of aconitine in chloroform is precipitated by 
ether. It is insoluble in glycerine and the heavy 
and light petroleum oils. Dissolved in water acidu¬ 
lated by sulphuric acid, it turns a ray of polarized 
light to the right. Its reaction is feebly alkaline, its 
aqueous solution not affecting litmus paper. It is 
very soluble in dilute acids, forming with some of 
them crystallizable salts; the nitrate, hydrochlorate, 
and sulpliocyanide being the most easily obtained. 
It is dissolved by carbonic acid; but the combina- 
* Phakm. Jouen. 2nd Ser. Yol. Till. p. 120. 
tion, if there be one, is not stable ; and such a solu¬ 
tion exposed to the air loses little by little its car¬ 
bonic acid, while the aconitine being insoluble in 
the water forms crystalline crusts on the surface. 
This property may be utilized in purifying small 
quantities of aconitine without transforming it into 
a stable salt. 
(To be continued.) 
NATIVE POISONS OF INDIA. * 
BY P. A. SIMPSON., M.D., 
Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, Anderson's University. 
In the selection of a subject on which to address you 
to-night, I have been puzzled by the multiplicity rather 
than the dearth of the topics in which we take an equal 
interest. Any single drug in the British Pharmacopoeia 
would furnish more than sufficient matter for a whole 
evening’s discussion. It may, therefore, appear some¬ 
what strange to you that the remarks which I pro¬ 
pose to make to-night have reference, not to a single 
drug, but to a very large class of drugs, belonging to a 
country which is about twenty times the size of Great 
Britain, and of which the population is about six times 
more numerous. The country I allude to is India; and 
I would draw your attention to the drugs which are 
made use of there as poisons, partly because they are less 
generally studied in this country than they deserve to 
be, and partly because I have, lor some years past, de¬ 
voted considerable attention to the subject of poisons. 
"Without attempting to give an accurately scientific 
definition , the term “ poison” may be said to be a general 
name for “ all substances which, when introduced into 
the animal economy, either by cutaneous absorption, re¬ 
spiration, or the digestive canal, act in a noxious manner 
on the vital properties or the texture of organs.” Hence 
we speak of “fever poison,” “cholera poison,” etc. 
Poisons exist in (the three kingdoms of nature; but 
those which proceed from animals are often called 
“venoms,” such as the venom of the viper, of the scor¬ 
pion, etc.; whilst those that are the products of disease 
have the term “ virus ” applied to them. In common 
parlance the word “poison” is restricted to deleterious 
articles furnished by the mineral and vegetable king¬ 
doms. Poisons were divided by Orfila (the celebrated 
toxicologist) into four classes :— 
1st. Acrid, irritating, corrosive or escharotic, such as 
the concentrated acids and alkalies ; mercurial, arsenical, 
cupreous and antimonial compounds ; cantharides, etc. 
2nd. Narcotics. Those that act particularly upon the 
brain ; as hyoscyamus, opium, etc. ; but without in¬ 
flaming the organ with which they come in contact. 
3rd. Narcotico-acrid or acro-narcotic; those that act 
on the brain or spinal narrow, or both ; but at the same 
time irritate the parts to which they are applied, as 
aconite, belladonna, etc., 
4th. Septic or putrescent; those furnished by the ani¬ 
mal kingdom. 
Various classifications of a similar character have, 
from time to time, been recommended by different toxi¬ 
cologists ; but they are all liable to the objection that 
they throw substances together whose physiological 
action upon the system is very different. It is, indeed, 
difficult, if not impossible, to avoid unnatural compres¬ 
sion of matters into places not properly belonging to 
them in all such arrangements. 
The great majority of the poisons made use of in 
India belong to the classes which Orfila has termed nar¬ 
cotic and narcotico-acrid, and are derived from the vege¬ 
table kingdom. The abundance in which a large variety 
* Read before the Glasgow Chemists’ Association, Jan. 10, 
1872. 
