214     INFLUENCE  OF  MORPHIA  IN  DISGUISING  STRYCHNIA, 
morphia  were  also  present  at  the  same  time,  the  strychnia  could 
not  be  discovered.  It  will  be  readily  admitted  that  this  is  a 
point  of  the  extremest  importance  to  be  settled  by  the  chemist, 
in  medico-legal  researches.  It  is  one  to  which  no  very  especial 
attention  has  hitherto  been  given.  It  is  merely  mentioned  as  a 
casual  fact  in  the  various  works  on  toxicology,  but  the  only  ac- 
tual experiments  recorded,  to  my  knowledge,  are  those  published 
by  Dr.  T.  G.  Wormley,  in  the  Ohio  Medical  and  Surgical 
Journal,  September,  1859,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  when  the 
morphia  exceeds  the  strychnia  in  quantity,  the  possibility  of  dis- 
covering the  latter  by  the  color-test  diminishes."  Dr.  Reese 
accordingly  undertook  a  series  of  experiments  to  satisfy  himself 
in  regard  to  this  very  important  subject  with  the  following 
results  : 
"Exper  iment  1. — One-tenth  of  a  grain  of  pure  strychnia  was  added  to  about 
twelve  ounces  of  water,  into  which  were  put  several  ounces  of  fresh  beef, 
finely  cut  up,  together  with  some  starch,  a  little  common  salt,  and  a  few 
drops  of  acetic  acid  ;  (the  object  being  to  represent,  as  closely  as  possible, 
the  contents  of  a  human  stomach  after  a  meal,  j  The  whole  was  digested 
on  a  sand-bath  for  twelve  hours  at  a  moderate  heat.  It  was  then  strained, 
pressed  and  filtered  ;  and  afterwards  evaporated  down  to  a  very  small 
bulk.  It  was  next  divided  into  two  separate  portions,  each  of  which,  of 
course,  would  contain  the  l-20th  of  a  grain  of  strychnia.  One  of  these 
portions  was  treated  after  the  process  known  as  Graham  and  Hoffman's 
(the  alkaloid  being  removed  by  animal  charcoal,  and  finally  extracted  by 
ether.)  Here,  a  drop  or  two  of  the  ethereal  solution,  representing  about 
the  l-40,000th  to  the  l-50,000th  of  a  grain,  gave  distinct  evidence  of  strych- 
nia by  the  usual  color-test.  The  second  portion  of  the  evaporated  solution 
was  divided  into  two  parts,  each  of  which  would  of  course  contain  the 
l-40th  of  a  grain  of  the  alkaloid.  The  first  of  these  was  treated  according 
to  the  process  of  M.  Staas,  in  which  ether  is  used  as  the  ultimate  solvent: 
and  the  second  part  after  the  process  of  Mr.  Prollius,  in  which  the  ultimate 
solvent  was  chloroform.  In  both  instances  I  obtained  the  most  satisfactory 
proofs  of  the  presence  of  strychnia;  operating  upon  a  single  drop  of  the 
fluids — which  would  represent,  certainly,  not  over  the  l-100,000th  of  a 
grain  of  strychnia. 
"  Expt.  2.  This  was  a  repetition  of  the  former  experiment,  except  that  the 
quantity  of  strychnia  used  was  much  smaller — only  the  1- 100th  of  a 
grain.  After  treatment  by  Staas'  process,  and  on  concentrating  the  ulti- 
mate ethereal  solution,  the  presence  of  strychnia  was  manifested  both  by 
the  color-test,  and  by  the  bitter  taste  of  the  extract.  Here,  the  quantity 
of  the  poison  operated  upon  was  less  than  the  l-100,000th  of  a  grain. 
