170  Extraction  of  Fat  from  Nux  Vomica.  Apr'u'fss*""' 
THE  EXTRACTION  OF  FAT  FROM  NUX  VOMICA. 
By  T.  Edward  Greenish. 
In  the  "Pharmaceutical  Journal''  of  November  26,  1881,  in  a 
paper  by  Mr.  Hallberg,  read  before  the  American  Pharmaceutical 
Association  there  occurs  the  following  statement : 
"A  portion  of  the  same  nux  vomica  was  exhausted  with  "  benzin," 
which  left  upon  evaporation  about  5  per  cent,  of  a  light  greenish-yellow 
fixed  oil  which  did  not  show  any  presence  of  alkaloids.'' 
In  the  "  Year-Book  of  Pharmacy"  for  1875,  p.  20,  it  is  stated  that 
Mr.  C.  Bullock  obtained  from  4  oz.  of  oil,  separated  from  the  extract 
by  heating,  10*6  grains  of  alkaloid.  ("Am.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1874,  p. 405.) 
In  the  same  publication  for  1877,  p.  225  ("Am.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1877, 
p.  3),  L.  Wolff  remarks  concerning  the  treatment  of  nux  vomica  by 
petroleum  spirits:  "The  oil  derived  from  the  "benziu"  exhaust  to 
make  sure  of  not  losing  any  strychnine  or  brucine  that  may  be  contained 
therein,  should  be  repeatedly  shaken  with  dilute  alcohol  until  the 
washings  fail  to  betray  to  the  palate  the  specific  bitter  taste  of  their 
alkaloids,  then  the  washings  must  be  mixed  with  the  extract  in  the 
course  of  evaporation." 
Wolff  used  a  petroleum  spirit,  but  Hallberg  does  not  specify  the 
origin  of  his  solvent.  I  take  it,  however,  without  doubt  to  be  the 
same  petroleum  spirit  as  is  generally  used  in  America  for  such  pur- 
poses as  extraction  of  fat,  etc.  (See  Maisch,  "Am.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1872, 
p.  334.) 
The  presence  of  oil  in  extract  of  nux  vomica  was  an  objection  which 
induced  me  about  two  years  ago  to  try  the  process  of  percolation  with 
petroleum  spirit ;  but  on  shaking  the  oil  thus  obtained  with  water 
acidulated  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  and  adding  potash  to  the  acid 
solution  after  separation,  the  quantity  of  alkaloid  precipitated  was  so 
large  that  the  process  was  not  adopted. 
My  experience  being,  therefore,  contrary  to  that  of  Mr.  Hallberg,  I 
resolved,  on  reading  his  paper,  to  estimate  tlie  amount  of  alkaloids 
extracted  with  the  oil  by  petroleum  spirit.  With  this  object  in  view 
I  percolated  8  oz.  of  powdered  nux  vomica  with  the  spirit  until 
exhausted  of  oil.  The  product,  measuring  10  oz.,  was  shaken  repeat- 
edly with  water  acidulated  with  sulphuric  acid,  and  the  acid  solutions 
were  concentrated  to  a  small  bulk  and  precipitated  with  solution  of 
caustic  soda.    The  precipitate,  washed  and  dried  at  100°C.,  weighed 
