520 
ON  ACONITE. 
test  reactions  are  neutral,  nothing  marked  about  them.  It  is 
precipitated  by  bichloride  of  platinum.  From  this  nitrate  the 
pure  crystalline  alkaloid  is  obtainable  by  the  ordinary  method — 
precipitation  by  ammonia  and  solution  in  spirit.  It  may  be  ob- 
jected that  this  crystalline  body  is  not  aconitine.  I  can  only  say 
that  it  possesses  in  a  high  degree  the  poisonous  properties  of  the 
root ;  for  some  years  ago,  not  being  in  a  position  to  repeat  the 
experiment  quoted  by  Orfila  from  Matthiolus,  viz.,  the  adminis- 
tration of  Aconite  to  four  highwaymen, — the  mediaeval  response 
to  the  proverb  Fiat  experimentum  in  corpore  vili," — I  took  a 
dog  of  medium  size,  and  gave  him  ^th  of  a  grain  of  these  crys- 
tals. He  vomited  within  an  hour  after,  foamed  at  the  mouth, 
was  purged,  with  great  apparent  irritation  of  the  anus,  but  re- 
covered sufficiently  to  have  a  second  dose  of  ^  grain  a  few  days 
after,  or  the  next  day,  I  forget  which.  This,  notwithstanding 
his  great  efforts  to  remove  the  poison  from  his  stomach  by  vomit- 
ing, would  certainly  have  killed  him  had  I  not  interposed  with 
emollient  drinks  and  careful  nursing.  The  crystalline  variety  of 
aconitine  ought,  I  think,  to  be  solely  used  for  the  internal  ad- 
ministration of  Aconite,  superseding  the  present  dangerous  pre- 
parations of  root  and  leaf  which  now  are  used  so  rarely  because 
so  unreliable.  I  would  suggest  for  this  purpose  a  powder  of 
aconitine  reduced  with  sugar  of  milk  to  a  convenient  degree,  and 
also  a  watery  solution  with  sufficient  spirit  to  keep  it  from  mould- 
ing. Half  a  grain  to  the  ounce — about  a  thousandth  part — 
would  perhaps  be  a  convenient  proportion  for  each. 
I  ought  not  perhaps  to  omit  to  mention  the  discovery  of  Na- 
pellin,  announced  many  years  ago  in  the  4  ficho  Medicale  de  la 
Suisse.'  It  is  described  as  differing  from  aconitine  in  being  very 
sparingly  soluble  in  ether,  and  not  precipitable  from  acid  solu- 
tion by  ammonia.    I  can  only  say  I  have  never  met  with  it. 
I  must  say  the  same  of  Messrs.  Smith's  discovery  of  .Narcotin 
in  Aconite  Root.  I  have  not  heard  the  discovery  affirmed ;  and 
as  nearly  all  the  processes  of  late  years  adopted  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  aconitine  would  serve  equally  well  for  the  search  for  nar- 
cotin, as  the  latter  body  is  also  so  readily  distinguishable  from 
the  former  by  its  splendid  reaction  with  nitro-  sulphuric  acid, 
contrasting  with  the  negative  result,  I  cannot  but  think  the  case 
