^""novM^s*'""  }     Detection  of  Alkaloids  after  Death.  569 
detectiojST  of  alkaloids  after  death. 
By  Dr.  Pellacani. 
In  a  recent  number  of  the  Rivista  Sperimentale  di  Freniatria  e  di 
Medioina  Legale,  Dr.  Pellacani  gives  an  account  of  some  experiments 
which  he  made  for  the  purpose  of  determining  how  long  various 
poisonous  substances  resist  putrefaction.  It  is  obvious  what  an  im- 
portant bearing  this  question  may  have  in  medico-legal  cases.  The 
following  was  the  method  adopted : — A  fixed  quantity  of  the  poison 
having  been  introduced  into  a  definite  quantity  of  blood,  the  mixture 
was  allowed  to  putrefy  under  favorable  conditions  of  temperature. 
From  time  to  time  it  was  tested  for  the  poison^  the  same  method  being 
carefully  employed  in  each  case.  Physiological  tests  were  used  in 
the  case  of  such  substances  as  atropine,  physostigmine,  curarine,  etc.,  and 
in  other  cases  methods  giving  characteristic  reactions  were  employed. 
The  poisons  experimented  with  were  for  the  most  part  vegetable  al- 
kaloids, which  were  introduced  in  a  free  state  in  the  following  proportions 
relatively  to  the  blood: — 0*10  in  the  case  of  physostigmine,  atropine, 
pilocarpine,  daturine,  and  digitalin,  and  0*50  in  the  case  of  all  other 
substances. 
In  this  way  Dr.  Pellacani  found  that  no  trace  of  digitalin  or  san- 
tonin could  be  found  in  the  putrid  liquid  after  four  months,  while 
atropine,  daturine,  and  physostigmine  took  thirteen  months  to  dis- 
appear; at  the  end  of  that  time  there  was  still  a  trace  of  codeine. 
Morphine  and  picrotoxin  gave  signs  of  their  presence  after  twenty- 
seven  months;  aconitine  and  cicutine  were  still  present  in  considerable 
quantities  after  thirty-four  months,  and  veratrine  was  found  at  the 
end  of  thirty-nine  months.  As  regards  curarine  it  remained  unal- 
tered for  twenty-eight  months;  but  after  thirty-nine  months  the 
physiological  test  gave  a  negative  result,  although  the  character- 
istic reaction  still  persisted,  except  with  the  sulphuric  acid  test.  Dr. 
Pellacani  considers  that  these  experiments  prove  that  putrefaction  is 
not  so  rapidly  destructive  of  vegetable  poisons  as  has  hitherto  been 
believed.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with  alkaloids. — Brit.  Med. 
Jour.,  July  21,  1888,  p.  152;  med.  chronicle,  Sptb. 
To  the  foregoing  abstract  of  Dr.  Pellacani's  paper  may  be  added  the 
results  of  researches  on  colchicine,  by  Dr.  N.  Obolonski  ( Viertelj.  f 
ger.  med.,  Jan.  1888),  who  found,  that  colchicine,  when  present  in 
small  quantities  (5  mgrms.  in  500  grms.  of  organic  substance)  can  be 
