ON  ACONITE. 
517 
be  relied  upon  for  purity,  but  possibly  this  is  not  so  true  now  as 
it  was  twenty  years  ago,  when  Dr.  Pereira  swallowed  a  fall  grain 
of  a  French  so-called  aconitine,  without  experiencing  from  it  any 
effect  whatever,  whereas  Mr.  Morson's  preparation  had  caused 
danger  to  a  patient  taking  Jgth  of  a  grain  only.  Dr.  Von  Planta, 
writing  in  1850  of  Merk's  aconitine,  found  it  contained  both  re- 
sinous and  earthy  matters. 
A  good  deal  has  lately  been  written  about  the  chemistry  of 
aconite, — more,  in  fact,  than  I  care  to  transcribe.  I  will,  how- 
ever, point  out  a  very  good  process  for  preparing  aconitine,  de- 
vised by  MM.  Liegois  and  Wattot.  It  mav  be  found  at  length 
in  the  forty-fourth  volume  of  the  '  Journal  de  Pharmacie  et  de 
Chimie.'    It  may  be  described  shortly  thus  : — 
"  Macerate  for  eight  days  the  coarsely-powdered  root  in  suffi- 
cient rectified  spirit,  acidulated  slightly  with  sulphuric  acid  ;  ex- 
press, distil  off  the  greater  part  of  the  spirit,  and  allow  the  liquid 
to  cool ;  remove  from  its  surface  the  floating  oil  and  resin,  con- 
tinue the  evaporation  to  a  syrupy  consistence,  wash  lightly  with 
sulphuric  ether  to  remove  all  traces  of  resin  ;  add  magnesia, 
agitate  several  times  with  sulphuric  ether,  to  remove  the  alka- 
loid ;  evaporate  the  sulphuric  ether,  dissolve  the  residue  in  a 
slight  excess  of  sulphuric  acid,  precipitate  gradually  by  dilute 
ammonia,  rejecting  the  first  portions  which  are  colored.  The 
latter  portions  are  perfectly  white,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
inventors,  respond  to  all  the  requirements  of  pure  aconitine." 
This  preparation,  nevertheless,  shows  no  tendency  to  crystallize, 
and  hence  differs  from  most  of  the  aconitines  of  commerce,  which 
more  frequently  than  not  are  partly  crystalline.  It  is  said,  also, 
to  differ  from  them  in  possessing  much  greater  activity.  The 
medicinal  dose  has  been  fixed  at  half  a,  milligramme  —  seventy- 
seven  ten-thousandths  of  a  grain. 
The  process  for  aconitine  contained  in  the  British  Pharmaco- 
poeia is  a  great  improvement  on  its  predecessor,  and  with  slight 
modifications  would  give  fair  results. 
At  the  Exhibition  of  1862  every  pharmaceutist  must  have 
noticed  with  surprise  and  pleasure  the  magnificent  specimen  of 
aconitine  in  perfectly  defined  large  crystals  contributed  by  Mr. 
Morson.    That  fact  must  be  admitted  to  have  settled  the  question 
