Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1884. 
Aconitine  for  Internal  Use. 
41 
invariably  ordered  in  the  manufacture  of  what  may  be  termed  crude 
aconite  preparations  for  internal  use,  and  it  is  to  it  that  the  text- 
books refer  when  treating  of  the  physiological  properties  of  aconite. 
Its  alkaloid,  nap-aconitine,  has  been  examined  and  described  by  several 
experimenters,  so  that  its  identification  when  in  a  pure  crystalline  con- 
dition is  comparatively  easy.  Moreover,  its  precise  physiological  action 
has  been  studied  by  Dr.  Fraser,of  Edinburgh,  who  compared  its  action 
with  that  of  fer-aconitine  (the  socalled  pseudaconitine  of  Von  Schroft) 
who  reported  thereon  to  the  British  Association  at  the  Bradford  meeting 
in  1873.  His  results,  which  are  given  in  short  abstract  in  the  Annual 
Report,  point  to  the  necessity  of  discriminating  between  the  two 
alkaloids  when  used  for  internal  administration.  But  can  they  be  with 
certainty  discriminated?  Undoubtedly,  and  it  is  the  more  necessary 
to  take  precautions  in  this  direction,  owing  to  the  fact  which  Wright 
has  pointed  out  that  Aconitum  Napellus  yields  both  nap-aconitine  and 
fer-aconitine,  the  later  in  very  small  proportion  it  is  true  but  still 
enough  to  modify  in  a  sensible  degree  the  action  of  its  companion 
alkaloid.  That  the  more  powerful  A.ferox  has  frequently  (probably 
as  often  as  procurable)  been  employed  for  the  extraction  of  commercial 
aconitine  is  unquestionable.  The  element  of  uncertainty  thus  intro- 
duced has  perhaps  had  much  to  do  with  the  neglect  with  which 
English  practitioners  have  treated  aconitine  as  an  internal  remedy ;  a 
neglect  which  is  seen  to  be  fully  justified  when  it  can  be  shown  that 
of  the  commercial  aconitines  so-called  many  are  wholly  amorphous 
and  therefore  indefinite  in  character,  whilst  others  are  not  only  so,  but 
are  also  contaminated  with  aconite  alkaloids  without  toxic  properties, 
and  of  little  physiological  activity  of  any  kind. 
Mr.  Cleaver  has  pointed  out  the  source  of  one  such  possible  con- 
taminant in  A.  paniculatum,  which  he  states  yields  an  inert  alkaloid 
identical  with  that  provisionally  named  picraconitine,  which  I  extracted 
in  quantity  from  a  batch  of  so-called  A.  Napellus.  I  at  first  supposed 
it  to  be  identical  with  atisine,  the  alkaloid  of  A.  heterophyllum,  but  I 
was  assured  by  Dr.  Broughton,  who  saw  my  specimens,  that  such  was 
not  the  case,  an  opinion  afterwards  borne  out  by  the  results  of  com- 
bustions carried  out  in  the  laboratory  of  Dr.  Wright. 
I  would  recommend  to  anyone  setting  about  the  preparation  of  nap- 
aconitine  for  internal  administration  to  be  very  careful  in  the  selection 
of  his  roots.  If  possible,  they  should  be  grown  in  this  country,  with 
guarantee  from  the  grower  that  they  are  the  produce  of  A.  Napellus. 
