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TINCTURA  NUCIS  VOMICA. 
water,  so  much  so  that  the  latter,  having  been  saturated  with  vac- 
ciniin,  after  cooling  yields  a  solid  mass. 
Heated,  it  melts  to  a  clear  liquid,  reduced  to  coal  by  stronger 
heat.  Neither  subacetate  of  lead  nor  tannin  render  any  precipi- 
tate. Its  reaction  on  litmus  paper  is  neutral.  The  vacciniin 
also  contains  no  nitrogen,  for,  melted  with  hydrate  of  potash,  it 
produced  no  ammonia.  Its  elements  will  be,  therefore,  carbon, 
oxygen  and  hydrogen. 
All  these  properties  make  me  believe  that  it  belongs,  like  ar- 
butin,  to  the  so-called  "  bitter  substances." 
TINCTUEA  NUCIS  VOMICA. 
To  the  Editor : 
Bear  Sir, — Having  occasion  to  make  Tr.  Nux  Vomica  not  long 
since,  I  made  it  in  the  usual  way,  according  to  the  Pharmacopoeia 
— 4  troyounces  nux  vomica  to  a.  pint  of  alcohol,  using  alcohol 
sp.  gr.  0-835.  I  discovered  something  which  I  never  saw  or  even 
heard  anything  of  before.  The  subject  is  worth  a  little  notice 
here,  and  the  readers  of  the  Journal  may  hear  of  something  that 
will  interest  them,  and  throw  light  on  the  subject,  in  case  they 
ever  meet  with  the  same.  After  making  the  tincture,  I  placed 
it  away  in  its  proper  place.  About  two  weeks  after,  I  had  occasion 
to  use  it,  and  was  surprised  to  find  deposited  in  the  bottom  of  the 
bottle  small,  almost  colorless  crystals,  octahedral  in  shape.  Not 
knowing  what  they  were,  but  judging  from  their  appearance  they 
were  strychnia,  I  proceeded  at  once  to  examine  them,  being  anx- 
ious to  know  what  they  might  be.  I  filtered  the  tincture,  and 
collected  the  crystals  on  a  filter,  dried  and  weighed  them,  and 
found  them  to  weigh  3  grains.  I  applied  the  bichromate  potash 
(KO,2Cr03)  and  sulphuric  acid  (SO3)  test,  which  produced  that 
purplish  color  characteristic  of  strychnia.  I  also  examined  it 
for  brucia,  and  found  it  to  give  the  faintest  red  color,  using  the 
nitric  acid  (NO5)  test,  thus  proving  that  the  crystals  were  nearly 
pure  strychnia  with  a  small  quantity  of  brucia.  Having  some  of 
the  nux  vomica  left,  I  made  an  infusion  with  part  of  it,  in  order 
to  find  whether  the  nux  vomica  was  alkaline  or  not,  and  found  it 
to  be  decidedly  so,  using  curcuma  paper,  turning  it  brownish ;  it 
