OF THE BRITISH PHARMACOPOEIA, 1864 , 
415 
four to seven miles. On the alternate day I remained quiet, and was chiefly 
employed in study. Immediately after taking the ^ij of tincture on the 3 rd of 
December, I sat down and wrote my letters, and then entered upon some micro¬ 
scopical investigations, and continued them, wdth a single break of an hour, for 
eight hours consecutively. On this and other similar occasions I retired to bed 
without the feeling of mental fatigue which I frequently experience after pro¬ 
longed microscopical work. It so happened, in fact, that at the time I was 
following my experiment upon the tincture of conium, I was in vigorous health, 
and this was in no way ailected by the drug. 
The other subject of my experiments was in a very different condition. She 
was a pale, delicate, emaciated woman, and confined to bed by the pain and 
constitutional disturbance attendant upon the formation of a very large abscess 
in the right loin. Her pulse was 108 and feeble, and she Avas restless and un¬ 
able to sleep. The abscess was opened on November 13th, and a pint of pus 
discharged. The same night I ordered as an anodyne f 5 ij of the tincture above 
described, and directed the dose to be increased each night, provided, as in my 
own case, no effects should follow. She slept AA^ell, On the following night 
f 5 iij Avere given, and there was no sleep. On the 18th she took f 3 SS at night, 
but did not sleep well after it. On the 19th f 5 vij were given, and she had a 
good night’s rest. Having used her supply, the conium VAms suspended for a 
feAv days, and opiates (-nixv to n^xxx tincturte opii) administered instead. 
Meanwhile the abscess was closing, the aj)petite returning, and the health 
rapidly improving. On December Isb she took f gj, and on the 2 nd f -iss, 
which exhausted my supply. On carefully examining this woman from day to 
day, and Avith special reference to the effects of conium, neither Dr. Collie, one 
of the resident medical officers of the hospital, nor myself, could detect any 
result. Sleep folloAved some of the doses, but was, no doubt, totally indepen¬ 
dent of conium. Great relief followed the evacuation of the matter, and her 
health began to improve directly afterwards. She is noAV convalescent. 
Examination of the Marc. —In order to make my experiments more satisfac- 
tory, I subjected the marc which Mr. IlemingAvay returned to me to the folloAV- 
ing process :—Placing it again in the percolator, I pas^d a solution of 5 j of 
caustic potash in f 3viij of Avater through it, and subsequently washed it with 
water until it passed through colourless ; f ^xiv of dark broAvn fluid, resembling 
tincture of henba.ne in depth of colour, Avere thus procured. I subjected this to 
distillation, drop by drop, collecting the first ounce and a half separately. I 
alloAved f 3vij more to distil, and set this aside. I then put one-half of the marc 
(which had been exhausted by spirit and solution of potash) into the retort to 
the remaining fluid, and distilled f^iv more. Having satisfied myself that 
these three fluids differed in no respect from each other, they were mixed, and 
presented the folloAving physical and chemical characters, Avhich are those of a 
dilute aqueous solution (ff conia;—Colourless at first, but becoming broAvn on 
exposure, a dirty-looking, greyish, fiocculent scum of greasy matter floated 
upon its surface ; odour rank and disagreeable, yet someAvhat resembling elder- 
flowers ; taste partook of the smell, it somewhat resembled hydrocyanic acid, 
and left a slight acrid impression. Reaction alkaline ; nitric acid added to a 
few drops , in a test-tube produced, after a few seconds, violent effervescence 
from the liberation of binoxideof nitrogen, and a yelloAv liquid resulted. When 
the action was moderated by spreading the fluids on a porcelain plate, a green- 
ish-yelloAV or bright green turbidity appeared, and after a feAv minutes bubbles 
of binoxide of nitrogen began to form, and the evolution continued until the 
green colour was removed, and a faint yelloAAush fluid remained. Solution of 
nitrate of silver produced a dirty Avhite curdy precipitate, Avhich readily dis¬ 
solved in ammonia. When dried and heated, a flame ran instantly through it; 
and on further heating the charred residue, only metallic silver remained. 
