AmAp?nri884arm'}       Standard  Extract  of  Nux  Vomica.  199 
THE  PREPARATION  OF  A  STANDARD  EXTRACT  OF 
NUX  VOMICA.1 
By  Wyndham  R.  Dunstan, 
Assistant  Lecturer  in  Chemistry  and  Physics  to  the  Pharmaceutical  Society 
and  Demonstrator  of  Practical  Chemistry  in  the  School  of  Pharmacy  ;  and 
F.  W.  Short, 
Assistant  Demonstrator  of  Practical  Chemistry  in  the  School  of  Pharmacy. 
In  previous  communications  to  this  Society  and  to  the  British 
Pharmaceutical  Conference  we  have  described  the  results  of  a  chemical 
investigation  of  Strychnon  Nux  vomica  and  its  pharmaceutical  prepa- 
rations. Processes  for  the  estimation  of  the  total  alkaloid  in  the  nux 
vomica  seeds,  in  the  tincture  and  in  the  extract  have  been  devised,  and 
a  method  for  the  quantitative  separation  of  strychnine  and  brucine  has 
been  proposed.  At  the  last  meeting  of  this  Society  the  results  of  some 
experiments  were  communicated  relative  to  the  extractive  power  of 
alcohol  of  various  degrees  of  dilution  for  the  alkaloidal  salts  which 
are  contained  in  nux  vomica.  Now  our  analyses  of  authentic  and 
commercial  specimens  of  nux  vomica  have  shown  that  different  speci- 
mens vary  very  considerably  in  alkaloidal  content,  and  a  very  serious 
want  of  alkaloidal  uniformity  has  been  shown  to  obtain  in  the  instance 
of  commercial  tinctures  and  extracts  of  nux  vomica.  In  the  present 
papers  it  is  intended  to  apply  the  results  of  the  above  investigation  in 
the  preparation  of  a  standard  extract  and  tincture  of  nux  vomica,  that 
is,  an  extract  and  tincture  of  nux  vomica  which  shall  contain  a  definite 
and  constant  quantity  of  total  alkaloid.  Perhaps  the  most  obvious 
method  of  attaining  such  a  result  would  be  in  the  first  place  to  obtain 
a  specimen  of  nux  vomica  which  contained  a  known  percentage  of 
total  alkaloid,  and  completely  to  exhaust  a  certain  weight  with  a  defi- 
nite volume  of  alcohol.  There  are,  however,  certain  practical  diffi- 
culties connected  with  the  complete  exhaustion  of  nux  vomica  by  a 
definite  volume  of  spirit,  and  still  greater  difficulties  in  obtaining  nux 
vomica  constant  in  percentage  of  alkaloid,  that  led  us  to  work  upon 
somewhat  different  lines. 
It  is  proposed  at  the  outset  to  take  a  good  commercial  specimen  of 
nux  vomica  in  powder.  We  have  previously  shown  that  the  powdered 
nux  vomica  at  present  in  commerce  is  free'  from  adulteration,  and 
hence  this  substance  can  be  used  with  advantage  for  the  present  pur- 
1  Read  at  an  Evening  Meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society,  Feb.  6,  18S4. 
