514 
ON  ACONITE. 
described,  and  its  composition  and  reactions  tolerably  well  ascer- 
tained ;  of  the  others  little  is  known.  None  appear  to  be  alka- 
line, but  if  otherwise  than  neutral,  inclined  to  acidity.  They  do 
not  contain  sulphur,  and  are  comparable  with  the  acrid  principle 
of  the  Arum  rather  than  that  of  the  Cruciferce. 
My  experiments  on  the  question  have  been  limited  to  distilling 
one  batch  of  the  plant  and  one  of  the  fresh  roots,  my  crops  of 
aconite  having  been  comparative  failures.  The  simple  distilla- 
tion of  the  green  plant  with  water  having  already  been  tried 
without  result,  I  distilled  mine  with  the  addition  of  lime,  for  the 
purpose  of  isolating  any  basic  body  of  a  volatile  nature,  but  held 
down  by  acid.  The  distillate  I  obtained  was  from  the  first  dis- 
tinctly alkaline,  had  an  herbaceous  flavor,  but  was  quite  limpid. 
The  alkalinity  continued  during  the  whole  course  of  the  opera- 
tion, which  suggested  to  me  a  gradual  decomposition  rather  than 
a  simple  elimination.  The  distillate  neutralized  with  oxalic  acid 
was  carefully  evaporated  at  a  low  temperature  to  a  few  ounces. 
It  was  then  turbid  and  slightly  colored.  It  gave  no  indications 
of  the  presence  of  an  alkaloid  when  tested  by  the  usual  reagents  ; 
and  when  redistilled  with  an  excess  of  lime,  in  order  to  remove 
the  little  organic  matter  that  had  come  over  with  the  first  distil- 
late, it  presented  the  characters  of  liquid  ammonia  pure  and 
simple. 
The  distillation  of  the  bruised  roots  was  conducted  in  the  usual 
way,  water  only  being  added.  The  distillate  was  neutral  to  test- 
paper,  slightly  opalescent,  but  entirely  devoid  of  acridity.  It  of 
course  smelt  and  tasted  strongly  of  the  plant.  The  liquid  con- 
tained no  alkaloid,  but  on  applying  the  usual  reagents  it  clearly 
manifested  the  presence  of  ammonia  in  minute  quantity,  It  was 
therefore  treated  with  an  excess  of  pure  carbonate  of  potash,  and 
evaporated  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  the  nature  of  the  acid 
with  which  the  ammonia  was  combined.  When  brought  to  a 
small  bulk  the  carbonate  was  neutralized  with  sulphuric  acid  and 
rectified  spirit  added.  The  filtrate  and  precipitate,  on  examina- 
tion, showed  conclusively  that  no  organic  acid  was  present,  but 
that  the  salt  of  ammonia  was  no  other  than  the  hydrochlorate  in 
very  minute  quantity.  k 
After  drawing  over  sufficient  distillate  for  the  above  purpose, 
