Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Dec,  1892. 
Aconitine. 
637 
out  those  adulterated  with  fats  (animal),  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  method  is  open  to  errors.  Thus,  a  small  amount  of  melted 
pure  butter  may  give  the  characteristics  of  adulteration.  So,  too, 
pure  butters  that  have  become  rancid.  Vegetable  fats,  again,  do  not 
crystallize  out  like  animal  fats.  Finally,  certain  butters  of  very 
inferior  quality  may  give  the  appearances  of  adulterated  butters; 
but,  notwithstanding  all  this,  the  method  is  a  very  useful  and  simple 
one  for  deciding  at  once  between  butters  that  are  manifestly  pure, 
and  those  which  are  impure,  and  may  require  further  examination 
by  means  generally  adopted  by  analysts. 
ACONITINE.1 
By  A.  Ehrenberg  and  C.  Kurfuerst. 
The  aconitine  was  purified  from  a  large  commercial  sample  by 
recrystallizationfrom  ether,  only  the  middle  fraction  being  used.  The 
pure  alkaloid  melts  at  193-1940  (Dunstan  and  Ince,  1 891 ,  m.  p. 
181-5°),  but  the  presence  of  a  very  small  quantity  of  a  decomposi- 
tion product,  which  coats  the  crystals  like  a  varnish  and  therefore 
escapes  detection,  lowers  the  melting  point  by  io°  and  more  ;  for 
this  reason  the  purification  of  aconitine  by  converting  it  into  a  salt 
and  decomposing  this  by  an  alkali  is  inadmissible.  The  authors' 
formula  for  aconitine  is  C32Hi3NOn  ;  Wright  and  Luff  - give  C33H43 
N012  (1878) ;  Dunstan  and  Umney,  C33H45N012  (1892).  Determina- 
tions of  methoxyl  by  Zeisel's  method  showed  9-92,  9  98  and  10-13 
per  cent,  of  methyl  as  methoxyl ;  the  elimination  of  four  methyl 
groups  from  the  above  formula  would  give  9-93  per  cent. 
When  hydrolized  by  alcoholic  potash,  or  by  water,  at  14O-1500, 
aconitine  yields  a  new  base,  methyl  alcohol,  benzoic  acid  and  another 
acid  (compare  authors  quoted).  When  it  is  heated  with  water  in  a 
reflux  apparatus  until  it  has  all  dissolved,  picroaconitine  and  napel- 
line  are  produced,  and  crystallize  from  the  solution  as  benzoates ; 
they  may  be  approximately  separated  by  treatment  with  dilute  sul- 
phuric acid,  washing  with  ether  to  extract  the  liberated  benzoic  acid, 
adding  sodium  carbonate  until  there  is  a  slight  precipitate  and  again 
shaking  with  ether,  which  extracts  the  napelline  ;  the  picroaconitine 
is  obtained  by  digesting  the  slightly  alkaline  solid  residue  with 
1  J.  pr.  Ch€m.  [2],  45,  604-613  ;  Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  1S92,  1254. 
