NEW  ALKALOID  FOUND  IN  ACONITUM  NAPELLUS.  173 
insoluble  than  the  hydrobromate.  Its  analysis  has  led  to  the 
formula  C27H24N4,HI. 
Acetate  of  Mauveine  This  salt  is  best  obtained  by  dissolving 
the  base  in  boiling  alcohol  and  acetic  acid.    It  is  a  beautiful 
salt,  crystallizing  in  prisms  possessing  the  green  metallic  lustre 
common  to  most  of  the  salts  of  mauveine.    Combinations  of 
this  substance  gave  numbers  agreeing  with  the  formula — 
C24H24N4.C2H402. 
Carbonate  of  Mauveine. — The  tendency  of  mauveine  to  com- 
bine with  carbonic  acid  is  rather  remarkable.  If  a  quantity  of 
its  alcoholic  solution  be  thrown  up  into  a  tube  containing  car- 
bonic acid  over  mercury,  the  carbonic  acid  will  be  quickly 
absorbed.  To  prepare  the  carbonate  it  is  necessary  to  pas3 
carbonic  acid  gas  through  boiling  alcohol  containing  a  quantity 
of  mauveine  in  suspension ;  it  is  then  filtered  quickly,  and  car- 
bonic acid  passed  through  the  filtrate  until  cold  ;  on  standing 
the  carbonate  will  be  deposited  as  prisms  having  a  green  me- 
tallic lustre.  This  salt,  on  being  dried,  gradually  loses  car- 
bonic acid.  From  experiments  that  have  been  made  with  this 
salt,  it  would  appear  to  have  the  composition  of  an  acid  carbon- 
ate,— viz  :  C27H24N4H2C03. 
In  the  analysis  of  salts  of  mauveine  great  care  has  to  be  taken 
in  drying  them  thoroughly,  as  most  of  them  are  highly  hygro- 
scopic. 
I  am  now  engaged  with  the  study  of  the  replaceable  hydro- 
gen in  mauveine,  which  I  hope  will  throw  some  light  upon  its 
constitution.  From  its  formula  I  believe  it  to  be  a  tetramine, 
although  up  to  the  present  I  have  not  obtained  any  definite  salts 
with  more  than  one  equivalent  of  acid.  Mauveine,  when  heated 
with  aniline,  produces  a  blue  coloring  matter,  which  is  now 
under  investigation.  A  salt  of  mauveine,  when  heated  alone, 
also  produces  a  violet  or  blue  compound — Ohem.  News,  Lond.y 
Nov.  21,  1863. 
A  NEW  ALKALOID  FOUND  IN  ACONITUM  NAPELLUS; 
DESCRIPTION  AND  MODE  OF  PREPARATION. 
By  Messrs.  T.  and  H.  Smith. 
In  lately  separating  aconitina  from  Aconitum  Napellus,  a 
crystalline  substance,  new  to  us,  presented  itself,  and  on  closer 
