Preparation and employment of Aconitine; 146 
hist, in as much cold water as will take it up, and carefully 
decanting the solution from the insoluble part, and then filter- 
ing it. To the filtered solution, liquid ammonia is to be ad- 
ded, drop by drop, as long as it occasions any precipitation. 
When the precipitate has subsided, the supernatant fluid should 
be carefully poured away, or drawn off by means of a sy- 
phon; and after the precipitate has been deprived of as much 
of the fluid as possible, it should be purified by a sufficient 
number of washings with small quantities of cold water, and 
then carefully dried. The product obtained by this process 
is white. 
The aconitine is possessed of an action similar* in some 
respects at least to that of Delphinia. When a small quantity 
of it, either made into an ointment or dissolved in alcohol, is 
rubbed for a minute or two upon the skin, a sensation of heat 
and prickling is experienced ; to this succeeds a feeling of 
numbness and constriction on the part, as if a heavy weight 
was laid upon it, or as if the skin was drawn together, by the 
powerful and involuntary contraction of the muscles beneath. 
This effect lasts from two or three to twelve, or more hours, 
according to the quantity rubbed in. So small a portion as 
the one-hundredth part of a grain, has produced a sensation 
that has continued a whole day; but the alcaloid in this in- 
stance was in a high degree of purity. 
The action of the Aconitine upon the Cutaneous vessels, 
appears to be less than that of either veratria or delphinia ; 
for in no case hitherto observed, has it produced a greater 
degree of vascular excitement, than might easily be accounted 
for by the friction itself; and in one instance where the Ver- 
atria ointment did occasion irritation, the aconitine has been 
employed without giving rise to any. 
The diseases in which I have chiefly employed the aconitine 
externally, are tic douloureux and neuralgic affections gener- 
ally, and in gouty and rheumatic cases ; and its success has 
fully answered the anticipations that had been formed of its 
utility. I have employed it in the form of solution in alcohof, 
in the proportion of one or more grains to the drachm, and in 
ointment made according to the following prescription: — 
Vol. I — No. 2 19 
