ON ACONITE. 
119 
A^olatility has been accorded to this siipposed acrid body, in consequence 
of the ready dissipation, as some have affirmed, of the activity of aconite by 
simple drying or by boiling in water. But Christison denies the former 
statement as regards Aconituin Napellus, asserting, on the contrary, that 
when carefully dried, either by water-bath or spontaneously, its activity is not 
much impaired; on the other hand, travellers report that the Swedes eat as 
a pot-herb one species of aconite when boiled. It seems to me that.tliese 
views may have their origin solely in the ready destructibility of aconitine (a 
fact no one will gainsay who has occupied himself in its preparation), aided 
b}^ the argument from analogy of some of the other JRanunculacece. The 
genera Clematis, Anemone, Ranunculus, furnish volatile, acrid, oily, or con¬ 
crete bodies, which fairly represent the powers of the plants whence they are 
derived. Of these the Anemonine has been fully described, and its composition 
and reactions tolerably well ascertained; of the others little is known. 
jMone appear to be alkaline, but if otherwise than neutral inclined to acidity. 
They do not contain sulphur, and are comparable with the acrid principle of 
the Arum rather than that of the Cruciferce. 
My experiments on the question have been limited to distilling one batch 
of the plant and one of the fresh roots, my crops of aconite having been 
comparative failures. The simple distillation of the green plant with water 
having already been tried without result, I distilled, mine with the addition of 
lime, for the purpose of isolating any basic body of a volatile nature, but 
lield down by acid. The distillate I obtained was from the first distinctly 
alkaline, had an herbaceous flavour, but was quite limpid. The alkalinity 
continued during the whole course of the operation, which suggested to me 
a gradual decomposition rather than a simple elimination. The distillate 
neutralized with oxalic acid was carefully evaporated at a low temperature 
to a few ounces. It was then turbid and slightly coloured. It gave no in¬ 
dications of the presence of an alkaloid when tested by the usual reagents ; 
and when redistilled with an excess of lime, in order to remove the little 
organic matter that had come over with the first distillate, it presented the 
characters of liquid ammonia pure and simple. 
The distillation of the bruised roots was conducted in the usual way, water 
only being added. The distillate was neutral to test-paper, slightly opales¬ 
cent, but entirely devoid of acridity. It of course smelt and tasted strongly 
of the plant. The liquid contained no alkaloid, but on applying the usual 
reagents it clearly manifested the presence of ammonia in minute quantity. 
It was therefore treated with an excess of pure carbonate of potash, and eva¬ 
porated with the view of ascertaining the nature of the acid with wdiich the 
ammonia was combined. AVhen brought to a small bulk the carbonate was 
neutralized with sulphuric acid and rectified spirit added. The filtrate and 
precipitate, on examination, showed conclusively that no organic acid w as pre¬ 
sent, but that the salt of ammonia was no other than the hydrochlorate in 
very minute quantity. 
After drawing over sufficient distillate for the above purpose, milk of lime 
was added to the contents of the still. The distillate then assumed a dif¬ 
ferent character, being decidedly alkaline, as in the case of the green parts 
of the plant, but the yield of ammonia was much greater. 
Some experiments w^ere made with the view of ascertaining if the ammonia 
could possibly have been derived from the deconiposition of aconitine by 
lime. I found, however, that lime-water gave a distillate decidedly alkaline 
to test-paper, and that the introduction into the retort of a little aconitine 
made no appreciable difference. It is, moreover, to be remembered that the 
roots distilled without lime gave an ammoniacal, though neutral, distillate, 
and that the quantity of ammonia obtainable by the use of lime, though 
