Am.  .lour.  Pharm. ) 
April,  1882.  / 
Poisoning  by  Aconitine. 
173 
(c)  Nitras  Aconitiniy  from  Merch,  Darmstadt. 
Dose. 
±  rogs, 
u  4  nig.  —  pel  K.110 
ID  mg. 
1  ■()  mar.  " 
40  mg. 
(1 
2'0  mg.  " 
80  mg. 
4*0  mg.  " 
160  mg. 
Habbits, 
3*5  mg.  " 
2  mg. 
10-0  mg. 
6'52  mg. 
Dogs, 
10-0  mg.  *' 
1*65  mg. 
Pigeons, 
0'4  mg.  " 
1*65  mg. 
(d)  Nitras 
Aconitini,  from  Iriedldnder,  Berlin 
Do  e. 
J  KJgO, 
4  mg.  =  per  kilo 
160  mg. 
(( 
10  mg.  " 
400  mg. 
(( 
20  mg.  " 
800  mg. 
(< 
40  mg.  " 
1,600  mg. 
Babbits, 
6  mg.  " 
4*11  mg. 
(( 
24  mg. 
10  mg. 
u 
50  mg.  " 
85*5  mg. 
il 
28  mg.  " 
6  mg. 
Pigeons, 
10  mg.  " 
33-4  mg. 
Effect. 
Recovered. 
Death  in  120  to  360  hours. 
Death  in  75  to  130  hours. 
Death  in  52  hours. 
Death  in  75  hours. 
Death  in  15  hours. 
Death  in  15  hours. 
Recovered. 
Effect. 
Recovery. 
Death  after  60  hours. 
Death  after  60  hours. 
Death  after  60  hours. 
Recovered. 
Recovered. 
Recovered. 
Recovered . 
Recovered. 
The  quantity  of  this  preparation  at  the  disposal  of  the  experi- 
menters did  not  allow  of  an  estimate  being  made  of  a  lethal  dose  for 
a  warm-blooded  animal,  but  when  administered  to  rabbits  in  the  pro- 
portion of  85*5  mg.  per  kilo  of  the  animaFs  weight  it  produced  tole- 
rably strong  symptoms  of  poisoning. 
From  the  above  figures  the  following  conclusions  are  drawn : 
(1)  Petit's  nitrate  of  aconitine  has  a  poisonous  action  at  least  eight 
times  stronger  than  that  of  Merck's,  and  one  hundred  and  seventy 
times  stronger  than  that  of  Friedliinder's. 
(2)  Merck's  nitrate  of  aconitine  has  a  poisonous  action  at  least 
twenty  to  thirty  times  stronger  than  that  of  Friedliinder's. 
It  also  appears  from  the  foregoing  that  the  preparations  known  as 
German  aconitine  "  are  not  always  of  the  same  strength,  there  being 
a  much  greater  difference  between  the  two  German  preparations  exam- 
ined than  between  the  more  powerful  of  the  two  and  the  French  pre- 
paration. 
In  conclusion  the  author  emphasizes  the  necessity — seeing  the  great 
possibility  of  variation  in  preparations  sent  into  the  market — that 
physicians  should  exercise  the  greatest  care  in  prescribing  aconitine 
and  its  salts,  as  the  dispensing  of  a  different  })re})aration  from  that 
intended  by  the  prescriber  may  lead  to  the  aduiinistnition  of  a  fatal 
