BRUCINE. 
§ 4H-] 
349 
the quantitative results are, however, not good, the strychnine precipitate 
being invariably contaminated by brucine. 
Chromate and dichromate of potassium give no precipitate with neutral 
salts of brucine ; on the other hand, strychnine chromate is at once 
formed if present. It might, therefore, be used to separate strychnine 
from brucine. The authors and others have attempted this method, but 
the results were not satisfactory. 
§ 411. Physiological Action.— The difference between the action of 
strychnine and that of brucine on man or animals is not great. Mays 
states that strychnine affects more the anterior, brucine the posterior 
extremities. In strychnine poisoning, convulsions occur early, and 
invariably take place before death ; but death may occur from brucine 
without any convulsions, and in any case they develop late. Brucine 
diminishes local sensibility when applied to the skin ; strychnine does 
not. 1 In a physiological sense, brucine may be considered a diluted 
strychnine. The lethality of brucine, cspecially as compared with 
strychnine, has been investigated by F. A. Falck. 2 He experimented on 
11 rabbits, injecting subcutaneously brucine nitrate in doses of varying 
magnitude, from 100 mgrms. down to 20 mgrms. per kilogram of body 
weight. He found that brucine presented three stages of symptoms. 
In the first, the respiration is quickened ; in 3 of the 11 cases a strange 
injection of the ear was noticed ; during this period the pupils may be 
dilated. In the second stage, there are tetanic convulsions, trismus, 
opisthotonus, oppressed respiration, and dilated pupils. In the third 
stage the animal is moribund. Falck puts the minimum lethal dose for 
rabbits at 23 mgrms. per kilo. Strychnine kills 3*06 times more quickly 
than brucine, the intensity of the action of strychnine relative to that of 
brucine being as 1 : 117-4. Falck has also compared the minimum lethal 
dose of strychnine and brucine with the tetanising opium alkaloids, as 
shown in the following table :— 
TABLE SHOWING THE LETHAL HOSES OF VARIOUS 
TETANISING POISONS. 
Minimum Lethal 
Dose for every 
Kilogram Weight 
of Rabbit. 
Proportional 
Strength. 
Strychnine nitrate 
Mgrms. 
0-6 
Thebaine nitrate 
14-4 
24-0 
Brucine nitrate. 
230 
38-33 
Laudanine nitrate 
29-G 
49-33 
Codeine nitrate. 
51-2 
85-33 . 
Hydrocotarnine nitrate 
. 203-8 
339-66 
1 Journ. Physiol., viii. 391-403. 
2 “ Brucin u. Strychnin : cine toxikologische Parallel©,” von Dr F. A. Falck, Viertel- 
jalirsschr. f. gerichtl. Med., xxiii. 78. 
