502  Report  on  the  Aconite  Alkaloids.      { ^"  fi^So""' 
sodium  carbonate  ;  the  flakes  thrown  down  after  collection  and  wash- 
ing, gave  these  numbers: 
(2.)  -290  gram  gave  -694  CO2  and  -195  H2O. 
•387  gram  gave  '00993  N. 
(I.)  (2.> 
Carbon,       .  .  .64-56  65-26 
Hydrogen,  .  .  8-47  7-47 
Nitrogen,     .  .  .      2-66  2*57 
The  sodium  carbonate  solution  contained  about  a  gram  of  a  soft 
alkaloid,  readily  soluble  in  alkalies,  and,  for  the  most  part,  soluble  in 
water,  and  but  sparingly  soluble  in  ether,  doubtless  therefore  consisting 
largely  of  aconine,  either  produced  by  the  saponification  of  aconitine 
during  the  process  of  working  out  the  bases  present  in  the  herb,  or  else 
originally  pre^mt  therein. 
The  above  numbers  and  general  results  are  practically  identical  with 
those  obtained  from  the  mixture  of  aconitine  and  uncrystallizable  alkaloids 
accumulating  in  the  mother  liquors  from  which  the  aconitine  from 
napellus  root  (described  in  report  1877,  p.  461)  had  separated  by  crys- 
tallization, two  samples  of^them  giving  the  following  numbers: 
Carbon,  ....  65-80  65-46 
Hydrogen,       .               .               .  778  7-58 
Nitrogen,               .              .              .  2-71  3'o5 
Benzoic  acid  formed  by  saponification,  14-4  14-1 
On  boiling  up  the  mixture  of  alkaloids  (i)  above  benzoic  acid  was 
formed  to  a  somewhat  greater  extent  than  with  these  two  samples  ;  2*227 
grams  gave  of  purified  acid,  by  tritration  '3904  grams,  by  direct  weigh- 
ing (including  a  minute  amount  of  resinous  matter)^  '397  gr^ni- 
By  titration,  17^5  By  weighing,  17-8 
The  benzoic  acid  produced  melted  at  120°.  It  gave  no  trace  of 
coloration  with  ferric  chloride  after  fusion  with  caustic  potash  at  250°,, 
acidulation  and  treatment  with  ether;  whence,  evidently,  no  veratric 
(dimethylprotocatechuic)  acid  was  present,  and  therefore  no  pseud- 
aconitine  was  contained  in  the  herb  employed. 
Hence,  it  results  that  the  quantity  of  active  alkaloid  contained  in  the 
aconite  herb  is  probably  somewhat  less  than  that  contained  in  the  roots^ 
reckoned  on  the  dry  substance:  for  a  quantity  of  roots  was  found 
(Report,  1876,  p.  539)  to  contain  about  '07  per  cent,  of  total  bases,  of 
which  aconitine  constituted  so  large  a  proportion  that  about  two-fifths- 
of  the  total  alkaloid  was  obtained  as  pure  crystallized  aconitine.  Admit- 
