208  Alkaloids  of  Aconitum  Napellus.     { AmAP0rnr;Sarm" 
sensation  so  characteristic  of  aconitine.  The  base  could  not  be 
crystallized,  neither  could  the  hydrochloride,  sulphate  and  nitrate 
prepared  from  it.  The  aurochloride  is  also  amorphous.  Owing  to 
the  circumstance  that  a  crystalline  compound  of  this  base  could  not 
be  obtained,  it  was  difficult  to  gain  conclusive  evidence  of  its 
homogeneity. 
The  properties  recorded  above  show  that  it  is  not  aconine  or  the 
base  called  by  Wright  and  Luff  picra-aconitine,  which  readily 
afforded  crystalline  salts.  These  characteristic  properties  belong 
to  an  alkaloid  of  which  a  full  account  will  be  given  in  a  later  paper, 
considerable  progress  having  already  been  made  in  the  most  diffi- 
cult task  of  isolating  it  in  a  pure  state.  We  propose  to  assign  to 
it  the  name  of  napelline,  which  was  first  given  to  the  alkaloid  now 
known  as  pseudaconitine,  and  afterwards  by  Hiibschmann  to  a 
substance  which  the  work  of  Wright  and  Luff  showed  to  be  a 
mixture  chiefly  composed  of  aconine.  The  napelline  obtained  as 
described  above  is  probably  associated  with  another  amorphous 
base,  about  which  we  have  at  present  little  information  to  give, 
beyond  the  fact  that  neither  it  nor  its  salts  appear  to  crystallize. 
The  alkaloid  soluble  in  chloroform  was  proved  to  be  identical  with 
aconine,  the  amorphous  base  which  results  from  the  hydrolysis  of 
aconitine.  On  combustion  it  afforded  numbers  corresponding  with 
those  deduced  from  the  formula  C26H41NOn.  Its  molecular  weight 
determined  by  Raoult's  method  also  corresponded  with  this  formula. 
The  roots  of  the  true  Aconitum  Napellus  certainly  contain  three 
alkaloids,  one  of  which  is  crystalline,  viz.:  aconitine ;  two  being 
amorphous,  viz.:  napelline  and  aconine.  Indications  have  been 
obtained  of  the  presence  of  a  fourth  alkaloid  which  is  amorphous 
and  closely  resembles  napelline. 
The  authors  found  that  the  juice  expressed  from  the  roots  con- 
tained a  large  proportion  of  amorphous  bases  but  very  little  aconi- 
tine, the  greater  part  of  which  remains  in  the  root  and  may  be 
extracted,  together  with  the  remainder  of  the  amorphous  alkaloids, 
by  exhausting  with  amyl  alcohol.  The  total  quantity  of  amorphous 
bases  amounted  to  more  than  twice  that  of  accnitine. 
The  physiological  action  of  all  these  alkaloids  is  being  investi- 
gated. The  results  so  far  obtained  point  to  the  conclusion  that 
crystalline  aconitine  is  by  far  the  most  toxic  of  the  alkaloids  con- 
tained in  Aconitum  Napellus. 
