NICOTINA  AS  INHALED  BY  TOBACCO  SMOKERS.  119 
ON  THE  QUANTITY  OF  NICOTINA  INHALED  BY  TOBACCO 
SMOKERS. 
The  Journal  de  Chimie  Medicale,  for  January,  1855,  con- 
tains an  interesting  article  on  tobacco  and  nicotina,  from  which 
we  extract  the  following  : — 
M.  Malapert,  a  distinguished  chemist  and  pharmaceutist  of 
Poitiers,  France,  has  been  making  researches  to  ascertain  the 
quantity  of  nicotina  which  passes  into  the  mouth  of  a  smoker 
during  the  combustion  of  a  certain  weight  of  tobacco.  He  ar- 
ranged an  apparatus  for  burning  the  tobacco,  consisting  of  a 
crucible  penetrated  by  a  tube  beneath,  the  opposite  end  of  which 
passed  through  a  cork  in  the  tubulure  of  the  first  of  a  series  of 
three  Woulf's  bottles,  connected  by  jQ  tubes,  the  last  one  being 
connected  with  a  large  tin  vessel,  filled  with  water,  and  fur- 
nished with  a  stop-cock  beneath.  The  first  and  second  bottles 
were  empty,  the  third  contained  acidulated  water,  through 
which  the  vapor  uncondensed  in  the  other  vessels  had  to  pass. 
Into  the  crucible  he  put  50  drachms  of  smoking  tobacco,  ignited 
it,  and  on  opening  the  stop-cock,  a  current  of  air  was  established 
through  the  apparatus,  (by  the  flow  of  the  water,)  until  the  com- 
bustion was  complete.  Nine  drachms  of  ashes  remained  in  the 
crucible,  equal  to  18  per  cent,  of  the  tobacco  burned;  consequent- 
ly, the  vapor  amounted  to  41  drachms,  or  82  per  cent.  About 
one  third  of  this  quantity  was  condensed  in  a  liquid  state,  in  the 
first  flask ;  the  second  was  merely  moist  and  stained  with  pyro- 
genous  matters  ;  the  vapor  which  was  found  in  the  tin  vessel  had 
a  disagreeable  odor,  which  differed  from  that  of  tobacco  smoke. 
The  liquid  in  the  first  bottle  consisted  of  water,  tar,  empyreu- 
matic  oil  and  carbonate  of  ammonia.  It  was  treated  by  sulphuric 
acid,  potassa,  and  dried  chloride  of  calcium,  and  yielded  4i 
drachms  of  nicotina,  or  8j  per  cent,  of  the  tobacco.  The  acidu- 
lated water  contained  but  4  or  5  grains  of  nicotina,  which,  with 
that  in  the  second  bottle,  which  the  author  did  not  isolate,  made 
the  whole  amount  to  about  9  per  cent,  of  nicotina  in '  French 
smoking  tobacco. 
