Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1884. 
Extract  of.  Nux  Vomica. 
39 
When  an  alcoholic  tincture  of  nux  vomica  is  evaporated  a  compara- 
tively large  quantity  of  oil  separates  as  the  evaporation  proceeds,  for 
this  oil,  while  soluble  in  alcohol,  is  insoluble  in  water.  Now,  an 
examination  of  the  oil  separated  in  this  way  has  shown  us  that  it  con- 
tains alkaloid,  both  strychnine  and  brucine,  and  hence  its  removal 
from  the  extract,  in  any  case  illegitimate,  is  accompanied  by  abstrac- 
tion of  alkaloid  and  consequent  diminution  in  the  total  content.  The 
presence  of  oil  in  an  extract  may  easily  be  detected  by  warming  with 
water  or  dilute  alcohol,  and  upon  cooling  the  oil  will  separate  and  float 
upon  the  surface  of  the  liquid.  Some  of  the  commercial  extracts,  the 
analysis  of  which  has  been  given  above,  failed  to  yield  more  than  a 
mere  trace  of  oil  when  tested  in  this  way.  This  may  be  due  either  to 
the  abstraction  of  oil  during  manufacture  or  to  the  use  of  a  very  dilute 
spirit  in  the  preparation  of  the  extract.  We  have  found  that  an 
extract  prepared  in  the  latter  way  contains  little  oil.  If  the  absence 
of  the  oil  is  due  to  this  second  cause,  and  a  spirit  about  the  strength  of 
proof  spirit  has  been  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  the  extract,  from 
results  published  in  our  foregoing  paper  more  alkaloid  should  be 
extracted  in  this  way.  In  the  case  of  one  of  the  extracts  examined, 
namely,  that  which  is  richest  in  total  alkaloid,  this  would  seem  to  be 
the  case,  for  we  found  that  this  extract  contained  no  oil ;  although  this 
result  might  have  been  brought  about  by  the  actual  removal  of  the  oil 
during  manufacture,  the  quantity  of  oil  removed  being  large  in  pro- 
portion to  the  small  quantity  of  alkaloid  which  it  contains.  The  actual 
method  of  manufacture  being  unknown  to  us,  the  truth  of  these  con- 
jectures must  necessarily  be  uncertain ;  but,  be  the  cause  what  it  may, 
we  have  shown  beyond  doubt  that  there  is  a  serious  want  of  uni- 
formity both  in  the  extracts  and  in  the  method  of  their  preparation. 
In  a  future  communication  we  shall  hope  to  bring  forward  a  simple 
and  direct  method  for  the  preparation  of  an  extract  of  nux  vomica 
which  shall  be  constant  in  alkaloidal  strength. 
We  are  indebted  to  Professor  Attfield,  F.  R.  S.,  for  allowing  the 
work  connected  with  this  investigation  to  be  carried  on  in  the  labo- 
ratories of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society,  and  have  also  to  acknowl- 
edge a  grant  from  the  Research  Fund  of  the  British  Pharmaceu- 
tical Conference  in  its  aid. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Dec.  8,  1883. 
