NEW TEST FOR STRYCHNINE. 
301 
of peroxide of lead, it immediately developes a magnificent 
blue color, which rapidly passes to violet, then gradually 
to red, and finishes lastly, after several hours, by turning to 
canary yellow. This reaction is characteristic of strychnine, 
as it has been impossible for me, up to the present time, to 
find a substance which acts in a like manner, under similar 
circumstances. 
When you act upon infinitely small quantities of strych- 
nine, it is preferable, in order to render the reaction more 
sensible, to triturate, in a dry state, a few particles of 
peroxide of lead with the organic alkali, then to let fall upon 
the mixture a single drop of the acid liquid. You will then 
distinctly perceive, in a manner not to leave any doubt upon 
the mind, the series of coloration I have above described, 
even when acting upon a portion of strychnine imponder- 
able, but approximately estimated at one thousandth of a 
grain. A. D. 
Jour, de Pharm. et Chim. 
VOL; IX. — NO. IV. 
27 
