554        NEW  PROCESS  FOR  EXTRACTING  STRYCHNIA,  ETC. 
an  equal  quantity  of  fresh  water  poured  on  the  mass  to  digest 
for  a  day  or  two  longer,  or  till  all  soluble  matter  is  extracted. 
The  clear  liquor  is  then  to  be  decanted,  and  the  remainder  thrown 
on  a  flannel  filter.  The  liquid  which  passes  through  should  be 
mixed  with  the  former  decanted  liquors  and  evaporated  to  a  syrupy 
consistence  (about  three  or  four  ounces).  When  this  is  cold,  dilute 
it  with  an  equal  quantity  of  water,  add  liquor  ammonise  in  ex- 
cess, and  set  it  by  for  a  day  or  two  that  the  strychnia  may  crys- 
tallize out,  which  is  known  by  the  various  little  white  tufts  which 
collect  within  the  fluid  as  well  as  on  the  sides  of  the  glass  vessel. 
When  the  crystallization  is  complete,  the  dark  green  supernatant 
fluid  is  to  be  passed  through  a  calico  filter,  and  the  residuum  with 
the  crystals  adhering  to  the  vessel  collected  thereon  to  drain, 
the  dark  green  mass  consisting  of  strychnia  and  brucia  with 
resinoid  matter  is  next  to  be  scraped  off  and  well  dried  in  a  water 
bath,  digested  in  hot  diluted  acetic  acid  and  the  solution  filtered. 
The  strychnia  and  brucia  may  be  thrown  down  by  potassa,  or 
the  strychnia  only  by  the  addition  of  a  solution  of  chromate  of 
potassa,  when  a  chromate  of  strychnia  will  be  obtained  free  from 
brucia,  provided  the  solution  be  tolerably  acid  which  retains  the 
brucia. 
This  chromate  of  strychnia  being  collected  on  a  filter  and  well 
drained,  can  easily  be  Achromatized  by  digestion  in  liq.  am- 
monite, and  the  strychnia  will  be  obtained  of  a  more  or  less  snowy 
whiteness. 
The  quantity  of  strychnia  actually  contained  in  the  nux  vomica 
has  not,  I  believe,  been  accurately  ascertained,  at  least  if  I  may 
judge  from  Professor  Taylor's  work  on  poisons,  where  that 
gentleman  represents  it  at  about  5-10ths  or  J  a  grain  per  cent.  I 
cannot  help  thinking  that  the  exhaustion  in  that  case  must  have 
been  but  imperfectly  performed,  as  my  own  experiments  show 
that  nearly  twice  that  quantity  is  capable  of  being  extracted ; 
for  in  my  first  concentration  of  the  liquor  from  a  quarter  of  a 
pound  of  nux  vomica  I  obtained  as  follows: — 
From  the  1st  concentration  11  grains  of  strychnia 
u     2nd         "  4    "  w 
a     3rd         «  2    "  " 
17  grains 
