FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
825 
neither did the action of dilute sulphuric acid or that of zinc 
and acetic acid on the compound give any satisfactory results. 
By washing Zanzibar aloes slightly with dilute spirit, the 
author has obtained crude Zanzibar aloin, which when puri¬ 
fied by crystallisation from spirit, formed tufts of needles. 
It is far more soluble than nataloin, and contains water of 
crystallisation, C 34 H 38 0 15 + 5H 2 0, which it loses when dried 
over sulphuric acid, leaving anhydrous Zanzibar aloin, 
C 34 H 38 0 15 , isomeric with the crystalline hydrated aloin of 
Stenhouse. As the author has not succeeded in obtaining 
a bromine substitution compound from it, and as it does not 
give the deep red colour with nitric acid which ordinary aloin 
from Barbadoes aloes does, he considers it possible that it 
may be different from the latter.— Journ. of Chem. Soc. 
The Aconite Alkaloids of Hubschmann, Napel- 
LINE AND LYCOCTONINE, AND THEIR PHYSIOLOGICAL 
Actions. —Hubschmann extracted from crude aconitine, ob¬ 
tained from Aconitim napellus , an alkaloid, napelline, differing 
in its solubility in water from aconitine ; and subsequently 
from lycotonum-root two alkaloids, acolyctine and lycoctonine, 
the first of which he found to be identical with napelline. 
The author obtained these bases by treating the alcoholic tinc¬ 
ture of the root with lime, then with sulphuric acid; evapo¬ 
ration of the alcohol, and solution of the residue in water, 
whereby resinous matters w T ere separated; decolorisation with 
purified bone-charcoal; evaporation to dryness after addition 
of sodium carbonate to strongly alkaline reaction ; exhaustion 
with alcohol; and finally separation of the two bases by 
ether, in which lycoctonine is readily soluble, whereas acolyc¬ 
tine is insoluble. 
Acolyctine thus obtained is a white powder soluble in 
water, alcohol, and chloroform, but insoluble in ether; it 
forms white precipitates with tannin and lead acetate, and 
yellow with gold chloride; its sulphate precipitates white 
with ammonium molybdate. Lycoctonine forms white prisms 
and crystalline needles of intensely bitter taste, soluble in 
alcohol, chloroform, ether, benzol, amylic alcohol, petroleum 
spirit, oil of almonds, and oil of turpentine; only sparingly 
soluble in water (1 part in 800 at 17°); its aqueous solution 
gives a yellow precipitate of microscopic needles with bro¬ 
mine water, and a thick precipitate becoming crystalline on 
standing with potassium-mercury-iodide. 
A large number of physiological experiments were made 
on men, rabbits, and frogs, with these results; acolyctine is 
not identical with napelline, but has only about one third as 
