538 
SUBLIMATION  OF  THE  ALKALOIDS. 
ever,  we  must  confess  that  the  Swiss  pharmacopoeia  is  almost  in 
every  respect  up  to  our  present  knowledge,  and  while  it  emi- 
nated  without  any  pretensions  from  a  society,  it  must  be  classed 
with  the  best,  and  surpassing  some  at  least  which  are  revised  and 
issued  by  governmental  authority.  It  evidently  knows  its  sub- 
ject, it  aims  at  simplicity,  the  language  is  clear  and  precise,  the 
processes  described  with  as  few  words  as  possible,  but  never 
leaving  any  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  reader.  We  believe  there 
are  many  points  from  which  we  can  profit  in  the  approaching 
decennial  revision  of  our  pharmacopoeia. 
John  M.  Maisch. 
Philadelphia,  Oct.,  1867. 
ON  THE  SUBLIMATION  OF  THE  ALKALOIDS. 
By  William  A.  Guy,  M.B.,  F.R.S.,  F.R.C.P., 
Professor  of  Forensic  Medicine,  King's  College,  London,  etc. 
{Continued  from  p.  436.)  » 
I  now  proceed  to  examine  those  parts  of  the  work  of  Dr.  Hel- 
wig  which  relate  to  the  sublimation  of  the  alkaloids,  premising 
that  his  inquiry  is  restricted  to  the  eight  poisonous  alkaloids, — 
morphine,  strychnine  brucine,  veratrine,  atropine,  aconitine,  so- 
lanine,  and  digitaline.*  To  these  bodies  he  applies  the  method 
of  sublimation  ;  and  obtains,  in  the  case  of  some  of  them,  satis- 
factory and  characteristic  crusts,  and  in  that  of  others  crusts  of 
less  defined  structure,  but  yielding  equally  characteristic  reac- 
tions. He  tells  us  that  he  has  never  used  for  this  purpose  a 
larger  quantity  of  any  alkaloid  than  the  T^  of  a  grain ;  and  he 
adds  that,  in  nearly  all  his  experiments,  he  finds  that  quantity 
not  only  too  large,  but  unfavorable  to  the  beauty  of  the  results. 
He  obtains  these  small  quantities  by  continued  dilution  and  drop 
measurement.  This  method  of  sublimation  he  believes  to  be  of 
the  greatest  value  in  its  application  both  to  metallic  and  to  vege- 
table poisons,  inasmuch,  as  by  it  a  succession  of  hitherto  quite 
unknown  and  highly  characteristic  data  for  diagnosis  are  secured ; 
and  he  thinks  that  these  assertions  are  made  good  in  the  chapters 
which  treat  of  the  poisons  in  detail. 
*  In  strict  chemical  language,  the  last  of  the  group,  digitaline,  is  a 
glucoside,  and  not  an  alkaloid,  a  fact  recognized  by  Dr.  Helwig. 
