Am. Jour  Pharm.  I  Foreusic-chemical  Determination  of  Gelseminc.  393 
August,  IbbZ.     i  ^ 
colored  from  impure  alkaloid  ;  the  supernatant  liquid  is  not  fluorescent. 
Strychnine  has  a  very  similar  behavior  ;  likewise,  though  less  delicate, 
quebrachine. 
Boiling  with  perchloric  acid :  Gelseniine,  slightly  yellow ;  strychnine, 
red  , 
Sulphuric  bihydrate,  with  fragment  of  potassium  chlorate  and 
boihng:  Gelsemine  and  aspidospermine,  clear;  strychnine,  red-brown 
to  black-brown  solution. 
Selmi's  reagent  (iodic  acid  suspended  in  sulphuric  acid)  :  Gelsemine 
and  strychnine,  rose-colored ;  brucine  and  aspidospermine,  brick-red  ; 
quebrachine,  dark  violet.  On  warming,  the  color  becomes  darker,  and 
finally  disappears. 
Potassium-bismuth  iodide  gives  a  red-brown  precipitate  with  '000025 
gm.  gelsemine ;  phosphomolybdic  acid,  a  precipitate  with  the  same 
amount.  Precipitates  with  *00005  gm.  gelsemine  are  caused  by  iodine, 
potassio-mercuric  iodide,  bromine  (yellow),  phosphotungstic  acid 
(white),  and  tannin ;  with  '0001  gm.  gelsemine,  by  potassio-cadmic 
iodide  (white)  and  picric  acid  (yellow),  and  a  turbidity  merely  by  the 
chlorides  of  gold  and  mercury. 
The  author  then  refers  to  the  physiological  experiments  made  with 
gelsemium  by  Professor  Ott  (1875)  and  Dr.  Moritz  (1878),  with  whose 
•  results  his  own  observations  agree.  He  details  his  experiments  for  the 
detection  of  lesculin  (gelsemic  acid)  and  gelsemine,  made  with  food, 
blood,  and  urine,  both  fresh  and  putrid,  and  with  poisoned  cats,  and 
closes  with  the  following  deductions  : 
After  poisoning  Avith  gelsemium  in  lethal  doses,  tesculin  and  gelse- 
mine may  be  isolated  by  Dragendorff's  method  (removal  of  fat  l)y 
petroleum  benzin,  extraction  of  ^esculin  from  the  acid  solution  by 
chloroform,  and  extraction  of  gelsemine  from  the  alkaline  liquid  l)y 
benzol),  and  both  may  be  recognized  as  such. 
oEsculin  may  be  found  in  all  organs,  and  gelsemine  in  the  stomach, 
intestines,  blood,  and  liver. 
After  the  sul)eutane()us  application  of  rapidly  fatal  doses  of  gelse- 
mine, the  alkaloid  can  })e  detected  in  the  corpse  only  in  mere  traces, 
and  not  with  certainty  ;  it  is  best  to  search  for  it  in  the  liver. 
Putrefaction,  accompanied  by  alkaline  reaction,  does  not  alter  gelse- 
mine, but  decomposes  jcscnlin  ;  both  ])rinci})les  are  not  altered  if  the 
.reaction  remains  acid. 
The  poisonous  action  of  gelsemium  does  not  depend  on  lescnlin. 
