ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  ACONITINE. 
59 
ecary  in  the  little  town  of  Kocping.  The  King  wished  to 
ennoble  him  ;  the  honor  was  refused ;  the  order  of  knight- 
hood was  nevertheless  transmitted;  but  being  addressed  to  a 
namesake,  Scheele  remained  with  no  other  title  than  that  of 
one  of  the  greatest  chemists  of  Sweden,  and  of  his  age. — Lond. 
Pharm.  Jour.,  Nov.,  1863. 
ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  ACONITINE. 
By  MM.  Liegeois  and  Hottot. 
The  process  for  preparing  the  valuable  alkaloid  aconitine, 
given  by  the  authors  above  named,  is,  we  believe,  of  English 
origin,  and  will,  with  a  slight  difference,  be  incorporated  in  the 
forthcoming  British  Pharmacopoeia;  we  therefore  extract  it : — 
"  The  bruised  root  of  the  Aconitum  napellus  is  digested  for 
eight  days  in  alcohol  slightly  acidulated  with  sulphuric  acid. 
The  alcoholic  solution  is  then  pressed  out,  and  the  alcohol  dis- 
tilled off.  A  small  quantity  of  green  oil  and  an  aqueous  ex- 
tract are  thus  obtained.  The  green  oil  is  separated,  and  the 
extract  further  evaporated  to  the  consistence  of  a  syrup.  It  is 
now  dissolved  in  water  and  neutralised  with  magnesia,  and  then 
shaken  up  with  ether.  The  ethereal  solution  on  evaporation 
yields  the  rough  aconitine.  This  is  again  dissolved  in  water 
acidulated  with  sulphuric  acid,  and  decolorised  by  means  of 
animal  charcoal.  Ammonia  is  then  added  to  precipitate  the 
aconitine,  and  the  mixture  boiled,  after  which  the  alkaloid  is 
collected  on  a  filter  and  dried.  This  part  of  the  process  is  re- 
peated once,  or  twice  if  necessary,  in  order  to  obtain  the  alka- 
loid with  as  little  color  as  possible.  It  is  eventually  precipitated 
with  a  very  slight  excess  of  ammonia,  and  dried  at  a  low  tem- 
perature." 
Aconitine  so  obtained  is  of  course  completely  soluble  in  ether, 
and  possesses  remarkable  activity.  The  alkaloid  received  from 
the  Continent,  and  commonly  sold  in  England,  is,  as  was  re- 
cently shown  by  a  correspondent  of  this  Journal,  of  very  infe- 
rior quality.  Our  correspondent  administered  three  grains  to  a 
dog  without  producing  the  smallest  discomfort  to  the  animal. 
Two  milligrammes,  or  little  more  than  three  hundredths  of  a 
