50O  Report  on  the  Aconite  Alkaloids.  {^""'JctTis^so^""* 
must  attribute  the  action  of  the  cockroach.  The  cockroach  (Blatta 
orientalis)  is  an  insect  which  is  found  in  all  parts  of  Europe  ;  in  France 
it  infests  the  baking  room  of  the  bread  bakers,  the  hot-room  of  the  con- 
fectioners, the  kitchen  of  the  restaurants.  The  food  it  likes  best  is 
flour.    To  procure  cockroaches  I  have  employed  the  following  trap  : 
Pour  some  beer  in  a  bowl  ;  to  facilitate  the  ascension  place  from  the 
floor  to  the  top  of  the  bowl  a  small  board  or  a  piece  of  linen  ^  arrived 
at  the  top  the  insect  falls  into  the  dish  and  is  drowned.  If  cockroaches 
are  caught  by  the  hand  put  them  into  a  bottle  containing  a  tew  drops 
of  sulphuric  ether. 
The  dried  and  powdered  cockroaches  were  treated  with  cold  water, 
with  water  rendered  alkaline  by  carbonate  of  sodium,  with  sulphuric 
ether  and  sulphide  of  carbon.  The  infusion  with  cold  water  was  evapor- 
ated  to  dryness.  The  residue  was  not  large  ;  it  was  divided  into  two 
parts  ;  one  of  it  thrown  on  burning  coals  did  not  produce  deflagration. 
The  other  part  was  put  into  sulphuric  acid  without  producing  any  vapor 
which  had  any  effect  on  guaiac  paper.  The  soap  obtained  with  alkaline 
water  was  decomposed  by  sulphuric  acid,  then  treated  with  appropriate 
reagents  showed  the  absence  of  alkaloids. 
To  which  ingredient,  to  which  cause,  should  we  attribute  the  medi- 
cinal action  of  the  cockroaches  ?  I  do  not  know  it.  Let  us  hope  that 
another  experimenter  will  be  more  successful  than  I  have  been.  With 
sulphuric  ether  and  sulphide  of  carbon  a  fatty  body  of  a  fetid  odor  is 
obtained.  To  get  rid  of  these  importunate  and  disgusting  guests  I 
have  advised  the  use  of  phosphorus  paste,  which  is  thinned  by  water 
and  spread  with  a  brush  ;  also  used  for  filling  the  cracks  in  the  floors 
and  walls  of  the  place  occupied  by  them.  H.  C.  C.  M. 
REPORT  ON  THE  ACONITE  ALKALOIDS. 
By  C.  R.  Alder  Wright,  D.S.C.  (Lond.),  Lecturer  on  Chemistry  in  St.  Mary's 
Hospital  Medical  School,  and  E.  H.  Rennie,  M.A.  (Sydney),  D.S.C.  (Lond.), 
Demonstrator  of  Chemistry  in  St.  Mary's  Hospital  Medical  School. 
The  alkaloids  contained  in  300  lbs.  of  fresh  aconite  herb  i^A.  napel- 
lus\  grown  at  Foxton,  in  Cambridgeshire,  were  isolated  by  the  methods 
described  in  last  year's  report,  viz.,  crushing,  maceration  in  alcohol, 
expression  of  extract,  evaporation  to  a  smaller  bulk,  and  treatment  of 
the  liquid  (weighing  about  59  lbs.)  with  soda  and  repeatedly  shaking 
with  ether.     A  quantity  of  alkaloidal  matter  was  thus  readily  dissolved 
