414  DETECTION  OF  STRYCHNIA  AND  ITS  SALTS. 
neutral  compound  of  ergotine  with  ammonia.  Winckler  has  found 
the  compound  of  ergotine  with  secaline  (ergotinate  of  secaline)  in 
the  black  sporous  mass  of  Ly  coper  don  cervinum. — Annals  of 
Pharm.  July,  1853,  from  Central  Blatt. 
A  NEW  MODE  OF  DETECTING  STRYCHNIA  AND  ITS  SALTS. 
Dr.  Edmund  William  Davy,  a  lecturer  on  chemistry  in  one  of 
the  Dublin  medical  schools,  whose  scientific  researches  in  chemis- 
try, in  connexion  with  medicine  and  pharmacy,  have  been  fre- 
quently noticed  in  the  "Annals  of  Pharmacy  and  Practical 
Chemistry,"  has  communicated  a  valuable  paper  on  a  new  method 
of  detecting  strychnia  and  its  salts,  to  the  "  Dublin  Quarterly 
Journal  of  Medical  Science."  In  the  course  of  some  recent  ex- 
periments on  strychnia,  he  discovered  the  following  method  of  de- 
tecting this  alkaloid  and  its  salts.  To  a  little  of  the  strychnia, 
in  powder  or  in  small  crystals,  add  a  drop  of  undiluted  sulphuric 
acid,  so  as  to  moisten  it,  then  a  little  of  the  ferrocyanide  of  potas- 
sium (red  prussiate  of  potash)  in  powder,  or  a  drop  of  a  strong 
aqueous  solution,  and  mix  them  well  together,  when  a  fine  deep 
violet  color  will  be  immediately  produced.  This  test  is  one  of 
such  extreme  delicacy,  that  a  quantity  less  than  the  one  thou- 
sandth part  of  a  grain  will  afford  an  intense  violet,  which  can  be 
extended  over  a  considerable  surface.  As  an  additional  proof,  he 
dissolved  the  fiftieth  part  of  a  grain  of  strychnia  in  one  thousand 
grains  of  distilled  water  ;  one  drop  of  this  solution,  weighing  one 
grain,  on  being  evaporated  on  a  surface  of  glass,  and  treated  as 
referred  to,  afforded  a  faint,  but  characteristic  violet  shade,  though 
containing  only  the  one  fifty-thousandth  part  of  a  grain  of  the  alka- 
loid. This  test,  proposed  by  Dr.  Davy,  he  affirms  to  be  quite  equal 
in  point  of  delicacy  to  M.  Lefort's,  whilst,  at  the  same  time,  it 
possesses  certain  advantages  over  that ;  the  violet  color  produced 
by  Dr.  Davy's  test  is  more  permanent  than  in  that  produced  by 
M.  Lefort's,  and  in  this  last,  the  violet  color  quickly  changes 
to  a  brown  or  olive  shade,  whereas,  in  Dr.  Davy's,  it  passes  more 
slowly  into  a  light  brick-red  color,  which  remains  for  several 
hours,  and  is  in  itself  highly  characteristic.  Dr.  Davy  states  that 
his  test  appears  to  be  less  affected  by  the  presence  of  organic 
matter  than  is  that  of  M.  Lefort ;  thus,  in  M.  Lefort's,  the  pres- 
