212  REACTION  OF  IODINE  WITH  THE  ALKALOIDS. 
I  forgot  to  mention  that  they  usually  have  two  scales  on  them — 
Richter's  scale,  which  shows  per  cent,  of  alcohol  by  weight,  and 
Tralle's.  which,  as  I  said  before,  indicates  the  per  cent,  by  volume. 
Yours  truly,  A.  P.  SiiARr.* 
*Note. — These  Berlin  instruments  may  be  had  in  this  country  of  Mr. 
Weightman,  of  Boston;  II.  Goebeler,  343  Broadway,  N.  Y.  ;  Bullock  & 
Crenshaw,  6th  and  Arch  streets,  Philada.,  and  A.  P.  Sharp,  at  Howard  and 
Pratt  streets,  Baltimore.  Some  of  them  are  without  the  thermometer  at- 
tached, but  they  are  greatly  preferable  with  this  addition. — Editor  Am. 
Journ.  Pharm. 
THE  REACTION  OF  IODINE  WITH  THE  ALKALOIDS. 
By  Bobert  F.  Fairthorne. 
When  the  liquor  iodinii  comp.  of  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  is 
added  to  the  solution  of  sulphate  of  morphia,  U.  S.  P.,  a  copious 
reddish-brown  precipitate  is  immediately  produced.  Laudanum 
treated  in  the  same  way  produced  a  similar  precipitate.  These 
precipitates  are  soluble  in  alcohol.  Quinia,  strychnia,  veratria, 
aconitia  and  atropia,  dissolved  in  water  by  the  addition  of  an 
acid,  exhibit  the  same  reaction  with  the  liquor  iodinii  comp.  as 
morphia. 
The  precipitates  from  aconitia,  veratria,  strychnia,  and  pro- 
bably from  all  the  alkaloids,  are  not  dissolved  by  dilute  acetic 
acid,  U.  S.  P.,  dilute  muriatic  acid,  U.  S.  P.,  or  by  the  officinal 
sulphuric  acid  diluted  with  40  times  its  bulk  of  water. 
A  solution  of  strychnia  (one  grain  to  five  drachms)  treated 
with  the  liq.  iodinii  comp.  retained  only  a  slightly  bitter  taste. 
Query.  Could  not  the  above  named  solution  of  iodine  be  used 
as  an  antidote  to  some  of  the  'alkaloids,  as  by  its  penetrating 
properties  entering  the  tissues  of  the  stomach  and  combining 
with  the  absorbed  poison,  it  would  form  an  insoluble  compound? 
A  case  of  poisoning  by  extract  of  belladonna,  in  which  a  simi- 
lar preparation  of  iodine  was  successfully  employed  as  an  anti- 
dote, is  recorded  in  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  Novem- 
ber number,  1855. 
Philadelphia,  April,  1856. 
