454 
ON  THE  DETECTION  OF  PICROTOXINE. 
pounds  weight,  and  it  is  necessary  that  they  should  be  hung  up 
for  a  period  till  the  water  is  all  drained  out  of  them,  and  then 
the  animal  rolls  itself  up  into  a  kind  of  ball,  and  lies  in  a  semi- 
torpid  state  till  it  is,  perhaps,  revived  on  its  journey  by  a  dip 
into  some  half-way  pond.  The  boxes  or  bags  containing  the 
leeches  are  carried  in  light  wagons  divided  into  necessary  com- 
partments. Relays  of  horses  and  drivers  are  always  kept  in 
readiness  at  the  various  stages  of  the  journey  ;  but,  notwith- 
standing the  greatest  care  may  be  taken  in  their  transport,  im- 
mense numbers  of  the  animals  are  killed.  Severe  frost  or  great 
heat  is  equally  fatal  to  them. — Pharmaceutical  Journal,  June, 
1862,  from  Once  a  Week. 
ON  THE  DETECTION  OF  PICROTOXINE. 
By  John  W.  Langley,  S.  B. 
The  seeds  of  the  Menispermum  Cocculus,  known  in  commerce 
by  the  name  of  Cocculus  Indicus,  or  popularly  as  "  Fish-berries," 
contain  several  active  organic  bodies.  One  of  these,  picrotoxine, 
is  eminently  poisonous,  and,  it  has  been  asserted,  possesses  in 
small  doses  a  distinctly  intoxicating  quality.  From  this  cause, 
and  because  the  addition  of  the  berries  to  the  fermenting  mash 
enables  the  brewer  to  dispense  with  a  large  amount  of  the  malt 
which  he  would  otherwise  use,  they  have  been  largely  employed 
for  the  adulteration  of  ale  and  beer,  so  much  so  in  fact  that  it 
was  deemed  necessary  in  England  to  pass  a  law  prohibiting  its 
use  for  this  purpose.  While  the  composition  and  properties  of 
picrotoxine  have  been  long  known,  no  process  has  been  hitherto 
discovered  by  which  it  may  be  detected  with  certainty  and  con- 
fidence, the  only  method  now  employed  being  the  recognition  of 
its  crystals  under  the  microscope. 
When  picrotoxine  obtained  by  any  of  the  methods  usually 
given  for  its  preparation  is  examined,  it  will  be  found  to  possess 
the  appearance  and  many  of  the  properties  of  the  alkaloids 
with  which  it  has  been  classed,  but  it  differs  from  them  in  the 
essential  particular  of  not  combining  with  acids,  but  on  the  con. 
trary,  it  manifests  a  decided  affinity  for  bases,  and  behaves  in 
many  respects  like  a  weak  acid.  Again  it  differs  from  them  in 
the  fact,  that  if  a  salt  of  an  alkaloid  is  decomposed  with  potassa, 
