414 
CHEMICAL REACTIONS OF STRYCHNIA. 
mangold wurzel, &c., which had been grown with super¬ 
phosphate in the ordinary way, and though the amount pre¬ 
sent was very minute, and as this manure was usually applied, 
it could only be very small, yet circumstances might occur 
in which, from unequal distribution of the manure, and from 
other causes, plants might be placed within reach of a greater 
quantity of arsenicated manure, and, under these circum¬ 
stances, imbibe such a quantity of arsenic as might render 
those vegetables unwholesome and unfit for food. He, there- 
fore, maintained, what he had before asserted, that a sub¬ 
stance containing such a quantity of arsenic as pyritic sul¬ 
phuric acid usually does, should not be used in the preparation 
of artificial manures which are intended to be applied as fer¬ 
tilising agents to our plants which are grown for food. 
ON THE CHEMICAL REACTIONS OF STRYCHNIA. 
By IT. Letheby, M.B., &c. 
The medico-legal chemistry of strychnia has been very 
fully investigated during the last few years, and Dr. Wormley’s 
paper on the chemical reactions of the alkaloid is a valuable 
resume of the subject.* It will be noticed, however, that his 
results are always obtained by adding the tests to a known 
quantity of the •pure alkaloid, a condition which is not at 
once secured in toxicological research. Experience, there¬ 
fore, has shown that some of the tests must be applied with 
certain precautions, or the results will be very unsatis¬ 
factory. Those who are conversant with the practice of the 
matter will not agree with Dr. Wormley that the colour 
test, for example, is to be employed in the way described 
by him. We have succeeded best,” he says, “ by placing 
the strychnia, or a drop of the solution evaporated to dry¬ 
ness, in a watch-glass, and by its side a drop of sulphuric 
acid into which a fragment of bichromate of potash was 
introduced, and stirred until it imparted a yellow colour, 
then by inclining the watch-glass the coloured sulphuric 
acid was allowed to flow' over the strychnia.”f This mode 
of experimenting is dangerous in every way, for, in the first 
place, if the bichromate is in excess, and the quantity of 
strychnia small, the colour is so evanescent as to be uncer- 
* ‘Chemical News/ pp. 218 and 212. 
f Ibid., p. 213. 
