ON  THE  SEEDS  OP  STRYCHNOS  IGNATIA. 
295 
Strychnia  These  beans  contain  a  larger  per-centage  of  this 
alkaloid  than  the  strychnos  nux  vomica.  I  employed  the  follow- 
ing process  for  isolating  it : 
Two  thousand  Troy  grains  of  finely  contused  beans,  were 
macerated  in  cold  water,  acidulated  with  muriatic  acid  for  ten 
days.  The  clear  liquid  was  then  decanted,  and  the  residue  sub- 
jected to  contusion  with  an  equal  bulk  of  well  washed  sand ;  this 
was  heated  in  a  water  bath  with  the  addition  of  a  pint  of  acidu- 
lated water  for  one  hour,  and  again  contused  with  more  sand  ; 
by  this  process  the  residue  was  reduced  to  a  pulpy  mass,  which 
was  introduced  into  a  glass  displacement  apparatus,  and  the 
liquid  obtained  by  the  first  maceration  allowed  to  percolate  slowly 
through  it ;  the  displacement  process  was  then  continued  until 
the  mass  was  completely  deprived  of  its  bitterness. 
The  liquids  obtained  by  desplacement  were  mixed  and  evapo- 
rated to  the  consistence  of  a  syrup,  and  the  gum  precipitated  by 
alcohol.  The  alcoholic  solution  was  then  filtered  and  evaporated 
over  a  water  bath  to  the  consistence  of  an  extract,  this  extract 
was  dissolved  in  cold  water,  and  by  this  means  the  muriate  of 
strychnia,  being  a  soluble  salt,  is  obtained  in  solution,  and  the 
fatty  matter,  which  exists  in  small  quantities,  is  also  separated. 
This  solution  was  next  heated,  and  the  strychnia  precipitated  by 
a  slight  excess  of  the  milk  of  lime,  and  allowed  to  stand  for 
several  hours.  The  precipitate  was  carefully  collected  and  dried 
and  treated  with  boiling  alcohol  (95  per  cent.)  and  filtered,  and 
allowed  to  crystallize  spontaneously.  These  crystals  were  next 
dissolved  in  boiling  alcohol,  and  treated  with  purified  ivory  black, 
taking  the  necessary  precaution  to  treat  the  ivory  black  with 
boiling  alcohol  to  dissolve  any  strychnia  which  may  have  been 
taken  up  by  it  during  the  process  of  decolorization.  The  solu- 
tions were  filtered  and  allowed  to  crystallize ;  the  crystals  were 
redissolved  in  boiling  alcohol  of  the  previously  mentioned  strength 
and  allowed  to  crystallize  spontaneously,  when  they  were  collected 
and  found  to  weigh  fifteen  Troy  grains. 
As  commercial  strychnia  is  generally  impure,  its  chief  contami- 
nation being  brucia,  which  adheres  to  it  more  or  less  in  the 
processes  used  for  isolating  it,  the  above  specimen  was  tested 
and  found  to  be  perfectly  pure. 
Brucia,  according  to  the  analysis  of  Pelletier,  exists  in  this 
