Am'£T  J76arm  }       Alkaloids  of  the  Aconite  Roots.  77 
use  of  benzoin  for  religious  observances  amongst  nations  in  various 
stages  of  civilization,  and  the  steady  demand  for  it  in  all  ages,  declare 
that  it  is  one  of  those  commodities  the  taste  for  which  is  inherent  in 
our  nature,  and  not  the  result  of  a  particular  caprice  with  any  individual 
people,  as  in  the  case  of  Malay  camphor  with  the  Chinese. —  The 
Chemist  and  Druggist,  December  15,  1875. 
THE  ALKALOIDS  OF  THE  ACONITE  ROOTS. 
BY  G.  H.  BECKETT  AND  C.  R.  ALDER  WRIGHT. 
The  authors  have  analyzed  various  alkaloids  and  their  salts  prepared 
from  aconite  roots  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Groves  (Weymouth)  in  the  following 
way  :  The  ground  roots  were  treated  with  alcohol  acidulated  with 
hydrochloric  acid,  and  the  extract  thus  obtained  was  boiled  down  to  a 
small  bulk  ;  by  precipitation  with  ammonia  and  agitation  with  ether, 
a  mixture  of  bases  was  then  obtained  from  this  liquor. 
Roots  of  Aconitum  ferox  (Nepaul  aconite)  thus  treated  yielded  an 
etherial  extract  from  which  a  base  crystallized  by  spontaneous  evapo- 
ration ;  this  base  yielded  salts  so  difficultly  crrystallizable,  that  hitherto 
they  have  been  obtained  only  as  varnishes  ;  it  has  been  termed  by  Mr. 
Groves  "pseudaconitina,"  which  name  the  authors  provisionally  retain, 
hoping  hereafter  to  be  able  to  elucidate  its  true  relationship  to  other 
bodies,  but  abstaining  from  renaming  it  till  this  is  done.  After  several 
purifications  by  crystallization  from  ether  and  alcohol,  this  base  gave 
numbers  agreeing  best  with  the  formula  C36H49NOn,  the  free  base 
and  the  gold  salt  being  examined  ;  the  platinum  salt  is  somewhat  readily 
soluble  in  water  and  alcohol,  and  does  not  crystallize  readily. 
By  converting  this  substance  into  iodomercurate  (by  precipitation 
with  mercuric  iodide  dissolved  in  potassium  iodide),  and  regeneration 
by  means  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen  (to  remove  mercury)  and  plumbic 
acetate  (to  eliminate  iodine)  in  alcoholic  solution,  more  or  less  change 
seems  to  be  produced.  One  specimen  prepared  thus  by  Mr.  Groves 
crystallized  in  well-defined  rhombohedrons,  which  showed  a  diminished 
percentage  of  carbon  as  compared  with  the  original  "pseudaconitina " ; 
the  quantity  of  these  crystals,  however,  was  insufficient  for  the  com- 
plete determination  of  the  formula.  Other  specimens  prepared  in  this 
way  from  "  pseudaconitina  "  by  the  authors  exhibited  the  same  kind  of 
action,  the  percentage  of  gold  in  the  gold  salt  being  somewhat  raised, 
and  hence  apparently  the  molecular  weight  of  the  base  being  lowered  ; 
