128 
ANTIDOTES  FOR  STRYCHNIA* 
two  or  three  substances  in  the  bark,  giving  rise  evidently  to  the 
cinchona  red  and  also  (as  I  think),  under  the  influence  of  the 
ammonia  which  it  is  easy  to  detect  in  the  external  portions  of 
the  plant,  to  the  formation  of  alkaloids.  Patient  investigation 
may  hereafter  lead  to  our  ascertaining  the  mode  of  all  these 
changes,  which  are  at  present  sufficiently  obscure. 
In  reference  to  the  commercial  value  of  the  root  bark  of 
Calisaya,  I  have  only  to  remark  that  the  importers  are  greatly 
disappointed  at  the  low  estimation  in  which  the  article  is  held 
in  Europe.  The  collectors  in  Bolivia  had  succeeded  in  passing 
this  root-bark  off  as  genuine  Calisaya,  which  it  (in  one  sense) 
undoubtedly  is,  and  having  hit  upon  the  wasteful  method  of  ex- 
tirpating the  finest  species  of  Cinchona  from  the  forests  of 
Bolivia  for  the  sake  of  a  present  profit,  are  now  much  annoyed 
to  find  that  in  "  killing  the  goose  which  laid  the  golden  egg" 
they  have  not  even  the  consolation  of  selling  the  bird  to  ad- 
vantage.— Land.  Pharm.  Jour.  Feb.,  1864. 
ANTIDOTES  FOR  STRYCHNIA. 
Professor  B.  Bellini,  after  conducting  a  long  series  of  experi- 
ments on  poisoning  by  strychnia  and  its  salts,  arrives  at  the 
opinion,  that  the  best  antidotes  are  tannic  acidand  tannin,  chlorine 
and  the  tinctures  of  iodine  and  bromine.  Chlorine,  he  maintains, 
attacks  the  strychnia  even  when  it  is  diffused  through  the  sys- 
tem, for  he  found  that  in  rabbits  poisoned  with  the  sulphate  of 
the  alkaloid,  on  being  made  to  inhale  chlorine  gas  in  quantity, 
such  as  was  not  sufficient  in  itself  to  kill,  the  convulsions  were 
retarded,  and  were  milder  when  they  occurred  *  death  also  was 
less  rapid.    The  author  further  observed,  that  when  strychnia 
was  exhibited  with  pyrogallic  acid,  the  convulsion  was  retarded 
for  the  space  of  half  an  hour,  by  comparison  with  other  experi- 
ments in  which  the  alkaloid  was  given  by  itself.    Professor  Bel- 
lini believes  that  this  arrest  in  symptoms  is  not  dependent  on 
the  acid  acting  chemically  on  the  strychnia,  but  only  through 
the  astringent  effects  produced  by  the  acid  on  the  mucous  mem- 
brane of  the  stomach,  whereby  the  absorption  of  the  poison  is 
rendered  difficult.    The  same  author,  dwelling  on  the  frog-test 
for  strychnia,  asserts  that  this  test  is  not  to  be  trusted,  inas- 
much as  other  poisons  produce  the  tetanic  symptoms,  although 
in  a  lesser  degree. — Brit.  Med.  Jour. 
