ABiimbeM3JL}    °n  Some  °f  the  Tests  f°r  Quinine.  573 
no  experience  in  regard  to  the  recovery  of  quinine  from  the  body^ 
long  periods  after  death. 
That  the  alkaloids  in  general  may  undergo  a  slow  and  gradual  change 
in  the  presence  of  decomposing  animal  matter  seems  to  be  fully 
established  by  the  investigations  of  Profs.  Buchner,  Gorup-Besanez 
and  others1,  as  well  as  our  own  observations,  in  the  case  of  strych- 
nine, which,  under  the  conditions  stated,  after  a  time,  loses  its  prop- 
erty of  responding  to  the  color  and  certain  other  chemical  tests,  but 
still  retains  its  bitter  taste  and  the  property  of  producing  tetanic 
convulsions  in  frogs. 
So  also,  Dr.  Pellacani2  on  mixing  a  definite  quantity  of  curarine 
with  a  given  quantity  of  fresh  blood  and  allowing  the  mixture  to 
putrify  under  favorable  conditions  of  temperature,  found  after  some 
months  that  the  alkaloid  no  longer  responded  to  the  physiological 
test,  although  it  still  retained  its  chemical  properties,  except  with 
the  sulphuric  acid  test. 
From  our  own  experience  we  are  strongly  led  to  believe  that 
when  morphine  and  strychnine  are  taken  in  moderate  toxic  quantity, 
that  portion  of  the  alkaloid  which  is  carried  to  the  tissues  by  the 
ordinary  process  of  absorption,  entirely  loses  its  property  of  crystal- 
lizing, even  when  present  in  quantity  sufficient  to  promptly  respond 
to  chemical  tests. 
When  the  morphine  or  strychnine  is  taken  in  excessive  quantity, 
a  portion  seems  to  be  distributed  to  the  organs  by  simple  exosmotic 
diffusion,  and  this  may  readily  be  recovered  in  the  crystalline  state. 
In  a  case  in  which  1  68  grams  (about  26  grains)  of  strychnine  were 
administered  subcutaneously  to  a  dog  during  a  period  of  four  hours, 
in  divided  doses,  so  as  to  keep  the  animal  paralyzed,  56  mgs.  of  well- 
crystallized  strychnine  was  recovered  from  the  urine,  26  mgs.  from 
the  liver,  and  14  mgs.  from  the  blood. 
University  of  Pennsylvania, 
Medical  Department. 
xAnn.  d'  Hyg.,  1881,  385. 
2  Rivista  Sj>  r  Med.  Legal,  xiii,  2,  p.  237. 
