178         NEW  ALKALOID  FOUND  IN  ACONITUM  NAPELLUS. 
of  deflagration,  but  in  a  liquid  medium.  The  phenomenon  seems 
to  be  caused  b}'  the  reflection  of  the  light  from  the  faces  of 
crystals,  continually  forming  and  moving  in  the  liquid,  as  they 
present  to  the  incident  rays  the  proper  angle  of  reflection  to  the 
eye  of  the  observer. 
It  is  a  very  remarkable  fact,  that  the  characters  of  aconella 
bear  a  great  resemblance  to  those  of  narcotina.  The  similarity 
is  so  great  that  we  have  compared  them  together  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, and  although  the  comparison  has  not  yet  been  carried  out 
to  produce  the  conviction  of  absolute  identity,  yet  so  far  as  it 
goes,  it  leads  to  the  belief,  that  aconella  is  nothing  else  than 
narcotina.  We  may  carry  out  the  comparison  and  give  the 
results ;  but  in  the  meantime  we  will  give  the  points  of  resem- 
blance ascertained  betwixt  the  two  alkaloids. 
Aconella  is  without  taste  in  the  solid  state,  so  also  is  narco- 
tina ;  the  solutions  of  both  however  are  very  bitter. 
Aconella  is  a  very  weak  alkali,  very  soluble  in  acids,  and  the 
solutions  are  all  strongly  acid  ;  the  same  remarks  apply  to  nar- 
cotina. 
Tincture  of  iodine  precipitates  aconella,  it  also  precipitates 
narcotina. 
Tannin  precipitates  aconella  from  an  oxalic  acid  solution,  but 
not  from  one  in  muriatic  acid,  characters  also  common  to  narco- 
tina. 
Aconella  is  remarkably  soluble  in  chloroform,  and  the  so- 
lution, spontaneously  evaporated,  presents  a  peculiar  appear- 
ance ;  the  very  same  peculiarity  of  appearance  is  shown  with 
narcotina.  The  crystallizations  of  the  two  alkaloids  from 
spirit  are  also  exact  counterparts  of  each  other.  They  are 
both  insoluble  in  caustic  alkalies.  On  adding  strong  sul- 
phuric acid  to  narcotine,  hardly  any  color  is  produced,  but  on 
the  addition  of  a  minute  particle  of  nitre  a  deep  blood-red  color 
is  at  once  displayed ;  aconella  answers  in  exactly  the  same  way 
to  this  test.  A  specific-gravity  bottle  filled  with  a  boiling-hot 
spiritous  saturated  solution  of  aconella — density  of  spirit  *840 
— was  found,  after  deducting  weight  of  bottle,  to  weigh  9*53 
grammes.    The  weight  of  the  crystalline  solid  after  evaporation 
