42 
Aconitine  for  Internal  Use. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      Jan.,  1884. 
Mr  Holmes  will  soon,  I  hope,  be  able  to  tell  us  more  about  the  num- 
erous varieties  of  this  plant  and  their  relative  degrees  of  toxicity. 
To  him  we  also  hopefully  look  for  showing  us  how  to  recognize 
them  by  optical  means,  microscopic  or  otherwise,  as  well  as  how  to 
distinguish  between  the  dried  roots  of  A.  Napellus  and  A.  paniculatum. 
Having  obtained  by  following  Stas'  general  method  of  extraction 
the  crude  alkaloids  of  presumably  true  roots,  the  aconitine  before  it 
<?an  be  safely  used  for  internal  exhibition  must  be  separated  in  a  crys- 
talline condition.  This  is  not  difficult,  but  it  is  wasteful,  if  such  a 
*  term  can  be  permitted  in  this  connection.  Ordinary  skill  only  is 
required,  helped  by  extraordinary  patience.  As  I  pointed  out  so  long 
ago  as  1866,  the  nitrate  is  the  best  of  its  salts  to  crystallize,  a  fact  I 
had  demonstrated  two  years  previously.  I  have  never  failed  in  pro- 
ducing it  in  quantity  averaging,  perhaps,  one  third  of  the  total  yield 
of  alkaloid.  From  the  nitrate  the  pure  alkaloid  or  any  of  its  salts 
can  be  made  without  difficulty. 
It  fortunately  happens  that  the  nitrate  of  fer-aconitine  is  crystal lizable 
only  from  a  strongly  acid  solution.  It  is  therefore  necessarily  excluded 
from  the  crop  of  crystals  obtained  from  a  neutral  or  nearly  neutral 
liquid. 
There  remains  the  possible  admixture  of  picraconitine,  the  nitrate  of 
which  crystallizes  in  forms  so  like  those  of  nap-aconitine  that  by  an 
ordinary  observer  they  would  not  be  distinguishable.  Its  bitterness  is 
its  most  patent  distinction.  The  poisonous  aconitines  are  much  less 
bitter.  Moreover,  its  comparative  solubility  in  dilute  ammonia  is 
characteristic;  so  that  a  nitrate  of  aconitine  that  yielded  on  preci- 
pitation with  dilute  ammonia  a  proportion  of  alkaloid  much  less  than 
that  due  to  its  centesimal  composition  would  deservedly  be  suspected. 
However,  the  best  test  of  all  would  be  the  physiological  applied  to 
each  batch  of  alkaloid  by  a  competent  experimenter,  and  a  series  of 
preparations  so  guaranteed  produced  by  a  house  of  known  reputation, 
I  am  confident  that  in  the  course  of  a  short  time  they  would  be 
accepted  by  the  medical  profession  as  a  valuable  addition  to  the  list  of 
heroic  remedies. — Pliar.  Jour,  and  Trans. ,  November  17,  1883,  p.  397. 
Sulpho-Carbolate  of  Sodium,  in  thirty-grain  doses  given  after 
meals,  is  recommended  in  flatulent  dyspepsia ;  also  in  ten-grain  doses 
for  nausea  and  vomiting,  particularly  in  pregnancy. — Louisville  Med. 
News. 
