'^"''otZ'.&^o^'^  \      Report  on  the  Aconite  Alkaloids,  503 
ting  the  300  lbs.  (or  about  135  kilos)  of  fresh  herb  to  represent  one- 
fifth  of  that  amount  of  substance  in  the  same  state  of  dryness  as  the 
roots  (an  estimate  probably  in  excess  of  the  truth),  the  total  yield  of 
alkaloids  readily  soluble  in  ether  being  about  15  grams,  this  would 
represent  about  -05  per  cent,  of  total  alkaloids  contained  in  the  dry 
herb;  the  percentage  of  aconitine  in  this  amount  of  total  alkaloids 
being  much  less  than  that  in  the  root  alkaloids,  so  that  the  relatively 
large  amount  of  non-crystalline  bases  wholly  prevented  crystallization. 
It  can,  however,  hardly  be  concluded  from  these  two  cases  that  it 
is  a  general  rule  that  aconite  roots  are  richer  in  crystallizable  aconitine 
than  the  dry  herb,  for  we  are  informed  by  Mr.  John  Williams  that  it 
has  sometimes  happened  in  his  factory  that  no  crystallizable  aconitine 
at  all,  but  only  non-crystalline  bases  could  be  isolated  from  batches  of 
roots  worked  up  on  the  manufacturing  scale  in  precisely  the  same  way 
as  other  batches  which  readily  yielded  crystals ;»  whence  it  would  seem 
that  the  roots  occasionally  are  either  poorer  in  aconitine  or  richer  in 
non-crystalline  bases  than  those  described  in  the  Report  for  1876;  and 
it  is  therefore  much  to  be  desired  that  further  experiments  should  be 
made  as  to  the  quantity  of  crystallized  aconitine  that  can  practically  be 
isolated  on  the  manufacturing  scale  from  roots  of  various  ages,  and 
grown  in  different  soils  and  climates,  etc.  Such  experiments  as  these, 
like  the  analogous  questions  as  to  what  precise  method  of  manipulating 
and  what  menstrua  will  best  suffice  on  the  large  scale  to  separate 
aconitine  economically  from  the  non-crystalline  alkaloids  accompanying 
it,  cannot  readily  be  carried  out  by  the  scientific  chemist  working  in  his 
laboratory  on  a  comparatively  small  scale ;  but  they  are  indispensable 
in  order  to  put  the  economical  production  of  crystallized  aconitine  on 
a  sound  commercial  footing. 
At  the  present  moment  the  pharmaceutical  aspect  of  the  production 
of  aconitine  is  as  follows:  Prior  to  the  last  eight  or  ten  years  the 
term  "'aconitine"  was  applied  to  an  amorphous  alkaloidal  substance 
extracted  by  processes  investigated  by  Von  Planta,  Geiger  and  Hesse, 
and  other  chemists,  from  A.  napellus^  and  probably  mixtures  of  that 
and  other  species.  During  the  last  decade  the  experiments  of  1\  B. 
Groves  and  Duquesnel,  together  with  those  carried  out  by  the  aid  of 
the  Pharmaceutical  Conference  grants  by  Alder  Wright  and  collabor- 
ateurs,  and  described  in  the  series  of  reports  of  which  this  is  the  con- 
cluding one,  have  demonstrated  that  the  active  alkaloid  of  A.  napellus 
(to  which  for  some  years  the  name  ''aconitine"  has  been  restricted)  is 
