^'"nov.?i883*''""}        British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  579 
operated  upon,  and  who  is  continually  contributing  in  one  way  or  another 
to  the  elucidation  of  the  history  of  Indian  drugs. 
The  "  Quantitative  Separation  of  Strychnine  and  Brueine  "  formed  the 
subject  of  the  third  report,  which  was  by  Messrs.  Dunstarj  and  Short,  and 
in  the  words  of  the  President  constitutes  a  distinct  advance  in  knowledge 
respecting  these  alkaloids.  The  process  devised  by  the  authors  for  the 
separation  of  the  two  alkaloids  is  based  upon  the  difference  in  the  solubility 
of  the  ferrocyanides  of  strychnine  and  brueine,  produced  by  the  double  de- 
composition of  the  alkaloidal  sulphates  and  potassium  ferrocyanide. 
Strychnine  ferrocyanide  is  but  very  slightly  soluble  in  water,  whilst  brueine 
is  much  more  soluble;  but  it  has  been  found  that  in  neutral  solution  a 
larger  quantity  of  the  strychnine  salt  remains  in  solution  if  the  brueine 
salt  be  present,  and  in  alkaline  solutions  the  separation  is  not  so  complete 
as  is  desirable.  If,  however,  the  solution  of  the  sulphates  be  acidified  with 
sulphuric  acid,  the  strychnine  is  entirely  precipitated  by  potassium  ferro- 
cyanide, both  alone  and  in  the  presence  of  brueine,  the  brueine  not  being 
precipitated  under  similar  conditions  until  the  strength  of  the  solution  ap- 
proaches saturation  and  then  slowly  and  in  large  silky  needles,  differing 
from  the  granular  and  heavy  precipitate  of  the  strychnine  salt.  In  another 
report,  upon  the  "  Tincture  of  JVux- Vomica,^ ^  the  authors  stated  that,  as 
might  be  expected,  the  difference  in  alkaloidal  strength  which  in  a  former 
paper  they  showed  to  exist  in  the  nux-vomica  seeds  of  commerce  is  per- 
petuated in  the  galenical  preparation.  They  gave  the  results  obtained  in 
the  analysis  of  twelve  specimens  of  tincture  of  nux-vomica  obtained  from 
different  sources,  from  which  it  appears  that  whilst  the  strongest  tincture 
contained  0-360  per  cent,  of  total  alkaloid,  of  which  one-third  was  strych- 
nine and  the  remainder  brueine,  the  weakest  only  contained  0*124  percent., 
or  just  over  one-third  as  much  total  alkaloid.  The  relative  proportion 
between  the  two  alkaloids  was  tolerably  constant  thoughout  the  series  of 
specimens,  with  the  exception  of  one,  in  which  they  were  present  in  equal 
quantity.  These  variations  in  the  alkaloidal  strength  of  tincture  of  nux- 
vomica  comfirm  the  conclusions  arrived  at  some  years  since  by  Mr.  Siebold, 
based  on  the  relative  bitterness  of  dilutions  of  some  specimens,  and  point 
to  the  necessity  for  in  some  way  standardizing  the  strength  of  this  powerful 
preparation,  if  not  to  the  advisability  of  abandoning  it  as  far  as  possible 
in  favor  of  the  liquor  strychnise.  Such  a  course  would  be  affected,  neces- 
sarily, by  a  knowledge  of  the  physiological  behavior  of  brueine  free  from 
strychnine,  and  the  process  of  the  authors  for  separating  the  two  alkaloids 
appears  to  furnish  a  favorable  opportunity  for  clearing  up  this  point. 
After  the  reports  had  been  disposed  of,  the  first  paper  read  was  on  the 
"  Preservation  of  Medicinal  Herbs  by  Ensilage,'^  by  Professor  Quinlan, 
and  described  the  results  of  some  experiments  in  which  medicinal  herbs 
were  submitted  to  treatment  analogous  to  that  followed  in  the  process  of 
ensilage  of  green  ^fodder.  The  herbs  in  a  fresh  states  were  bruised  to  a 
pulp  in  a  mortar,  and  the  pulp  packed  closely  into  glass  bottles,  leaving 
only  room  for  the  stoppers,  which  were  covered  with  beeswax,  the  bottles 
being  afterwards  buried  iu  the  earth.  After  treatment  in  this  way  bella- 
donna, conium,  and  other  herbs  were  found  to  be  "perfectly  sweet  and  fit 
