HEMLOCK. 
§§ 327-329-] 
27I 
alcohol, and ether. Melts at 101°-102°, boils at 229°-231°. Polarises 
to the right. Is probably a stereoisomer of conhydrine. 
Methylconiine is a colourless liquid. Sp. gr. 0-8318 at 24°. Boils 
at 173°-174°. Polarises to the left. 
H 2 C 
h 2 c 
ch 2 
v ch-c 3 h 7 
N 
ch 3 
Methylconiine. 
§ 327. Pharmaceutical Preparations. —The percentage of coniine in 
the plant itself, and in pharmaceutical preparations, can be approxi¬ 
mately determined by distilling the coniine over, in partial vacuum, 1 
and titrating the distillate with Mayer’s reagent; each c.c. = -00416 grm. 
of coniine. It appears to be necessary to add powdered potassic chloride 
and a small quantity of diluted sulphuric acid before titrating, or the 
precipitate does not separate. In any case, the end of the reaction is 
difficult to observe. 2 
The fresh plant is said to contain from about -04 to -09 per cent., 
and the fruit about 0-7 per cent, of coniine. 
The old official preparations were—the leaves, the fruit, a tincture of 
the fruit, an extract of the leaves, the juice of the leaves ( Succus conii), 
a compound hemlock pill (composed of extract of hemlock, ipecacuanha, 
and treacle), an inhalation of coniine (Vapor conii), and a poultice 
(Cataplasma conii) made with the leaves, but these have all disappeared 
from the last edition of the British Pharmacopoeia. 
§ 328. Statistics of Coniine Poisoning. —F. A. Falck 3 has been 
able to collect 17 cases of death recorded in medical literature, up to 
the year 1880, from either coniine or hemlock. Two of these cases 
were criminal (murders), 1 suicidal, 2 cases in which coniine had been 
used medicinally (in one instance the extract had been applied to a 
cancerous breast; in the other, death was produced from the injection 
of an infusion of hemlock leaves). The remaining 12 were cases in 
which the root, leaves, or other portions of the plant had been ignorantly 
or accidentally eaten. 
§ 329. Effects on Animals. —It destroys all forms of animal life. The 
1 This is easily effected by uniting a flask containing the alkaloidal fluid, air¬ 
tight, with a Liebig’s condenser and a receiver, the latter being connected with 
Bunsen’s water-pump, or one of the numerous exhausting apparatus now in use in 
every laboratory. 
2 Dragendorff, Die chemische Werthbestimmung einiger starkwirkender Droguen, 
St Petersb., 1874. 
8 Prakt. Toxicologie, p. 273. 
