Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
April,  1882.  ; 
Poisoning  by  Aconitine. 
171 
*3185  gram.  The  filtrate  and  wash  water  were  shaken  with  chloro- 
ionii  and  the  chloroform  solutions  evaporated  to  dr3aiess ;  the  residue 
(principally  brucia),  dissolved  in  acidulated  water  and  precipitated  with 
soda,  weighed  '0385  gram. 
This  gives  a  total  of  "357  gram  of  alkaloids  from  8  oz.  (or  227 
grams)  of  nux  vomica,  or  '157  per  cent.,  a  quantity  equal  to  about  ^ 
of  the  total  amount  of  alkaloids  contained  therein.  From  this  it  is 
evident  that  petroleum  spirit  will  remove  a  considerable  proportion  of 
strychnine  and  brucine  from  nux  vomica,  and  the  resulting  extract  will 
be  correspondingly  deficient  in  active  principle.  In  the  above  experi- 
ment the  nux  vomica,  although  exhausted  of  oil,  continued  to  yield  its 
alkaloids  to  petroleum  spirit. 
I  have  found,  however,  that  percolation  with  coal-tar  benzol  extracts 
no  alkaloid.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  the  fixed  oil  which  carries  the 
alkaloid  into  solution,  as  is  sometimes  assumed  in  similar  cases. 
Should  a  dry  extract  be  required,  care  must  be  taken  to  shake  the 
solution  with  acidulated  water  and  to  precipitate  the  alkaloids  as  above, 
or  to  remove  them  by  dilute  alcohol,  as  recommended  by  Mr.  Wolif. 
I  may  add  that  the  hydrocarbon  spirit  used  was  a  petroleum  pro- 
duct, sp.  gr.  '700. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans. ^  Jan.  14,  1882. 
POISONING  BY  ACONITINE. 
By  p.  C.  Plugge. 
Abstract  of  a  paper  in  the  "  Archiv  der  Pharmacie    for  January. 
In  April,  1880,  a  case  of  death  by  poisoning  occurred  at  Winscho- 
ten,  in  Holland,  which  was  supposed  to  have  been  due  to  an  error  in 
dispensing  a  mixture  containing  nitrate  of  aconitine.  In  connection 
with  the  judicial  investigation,  the  authorities  submitted  to  Professors 
Plugge  and  Huisinga,  of  Groningen,  (1)  a  mixture,  (2)  three  samples 
of  nitrate  of  aconitine  and  (3)  the  residue  from  the  evaporation  of 
benzol  that  had  been  shaken  with  the  vomit  and  the  contents  of  the 
stomach  and  intestines  of  the  deceased,  with  a  request  that  they  would 
report  upon  their  relative  poisonous  properties. 
The  three  samples  of  nitrate  of  aconitine  were  labeled  respectively 
(6)  Aconitin  nitric,  from  Mastenbroek  &  Gallenkamp  (the  firm  by 
whom  the  mixture  was  dispensed) ;  (c)  Aconitin  nitric,  from  E.  Merck, 
of  Darmstadt,  and  (d)  Aconitin  nitric,  from  Friedliinder,  of  Berlin. 
