Aconitine

“ Merck’s aconitine nitrate; (6) Schuchart’s aconitine sulphate; and (7) Friedländer’s aconitine nitrate.
From a study of Dr. Harley’s experiments, [472] however, made a few years ago, there would appear to have been but little difference between the activity of Petit’s and Morson’s aconitine. Dr. Harley experimented on a young cat, 3 lbs. in weight, and nearly killed it with a 1⁄1000 of a grain of Morson’s aconitine; two other cats, also weighing 3 lbs. each, died in seven and a half hours and three-quarters of an hour respectively, killed from a subcutaneous dose of of a grain. ”

“ Preparations of the leaves are not official in the U. S. P. The root is five times stronger than the leaves.
Constituents.—The alkaloid representing the action of the drug is aconitine, which is precipitated by ammonia from an aqueous solution of an alcoholic extract of the root of various species. It is a colorless, crystalline or amorphous, gray powder, almost insoluble in water, and soluble in 22 parts of alcohol, in 44 parts of ether and 1 part of chloroform. Its salts are soluble in water. Aconitine or its solutions, unless very dilute, are too poisonous to be tasted. ”

“ The proof of the purchase of aconitine by the prisoner, and the evidence of the post-mortem examination, pointed to the cause of death, and the presence of aconitine was amply proved by the clinical and other tests patiently and carefully applied by the analyst. The difficulty of proving the presence of a rare vegetable alkaloid in the body after death was, no doubt, duly considered by Lamson when he fixed on aconitine as the medium for his evil design; but science proved the master of the criminal, and the evidence of the instrument by which the crime was committed was indisputably proved. ”

“ The tap root of the aconite has been frequently eaten in mistake for horse-radish with fatal results. Aconite contains several active principles, all of which are powerful poisons. The chief of these is aconitine—probably the most deadly poison known—the fiftieth part of a grain of which has nearly caused death. Indian aconite, known as Bish, is chiefly derived from Aconitum ferox—a native of high altitude in the Himalaya regions—and is mentioned by the Persian physician, Alheroi, in the tenth century, also by many early Arabian writers on medicine. ”

“ Made by maceration and percolation of aconite, 100; with alcohol and water to make 1000.
Dose.—Horses and cattle, 20 m. to 1 dr.; sheep and pigs, 10 to 20 m.; dogs, 2 to 10 m.
Fleming’s Tincture (non-official) (79 per cent) .
Dose.—Horses and cattle, 8 to 20 m.; dogs, 1⁄2 to 2 m.
ACONITINA—ACONITINE
Not used to any extent in veterinary practice; is very unreliable and varying in strength. Aconitine often contains a considerable proportion of aconite and benzaconine, and so varies in activity, which is a great objection to the use of one of the most powerful drugs known. ”

“ Turnbull has succeeded in producing, but with difficulty and in small quantity, an aconitine possessing in perfection all the active properties of the plant. It produces numbness of the tongue when applied to it, and is said to contract the pupil, whereas Geiger's aconitine dilates it. In obtaining the aconitine of Turnbull, much appears to depend on the freshness of the plant; and the alkaloid itself is easily decomposed, especially by alkalies.
"As a remedy in neuralgia and similar painful and obscure diseases, the aconitine of Turnbull possesses most valuable powers. ”

“ As garden plants the aconites are very ornamental, hardy perennials. They thrive well in any ordinary garden soil, and will grow beneath the shade of trees. They are easily propagated by divisions of the root or by seeds; great care should be taken not to leave pieces of the root about owing to its very poisonous character.
Chemistry.—-The active principle of Aconitum Napellus is the alkaloid aconitine, first examined by P. L. Geiger and Hesse (Ann., 1834, 7, p. 267) , Alder Wright and A. B, Luff obtained apoaconitine, aconine and benzoic acid by hydrolysis ”

“ Uses—The drug has been imported and used as a source of aconitine. It is commonly believed to be much more potent than the aconite root of Europe.
RADIX ACONITI HETEROPHYLLI. Atís or Atees.
Botanical Origin—Aconitum heterophyllum Wallich, a plant of 1 to 3 feet high with a raceme of large flowers of a dull yellow veined with purple, or altogether blue, and reniform or cordate, obscurely 5-lobed, radical leaves. [65] It grows at elevations of 8000 to 13,000 feet in the temperate regions of the Western Himalaya, as in Simla, Kumaon and Kashmír. ”

“ For the defence it was urged by Montagu Williams that it was admitted by the scientific witnesses for the prosecution that they had no other proof of the identity of aconitine than these physiological tests upon mice; that their conclusions were a leap in the dark; and that mice had so delicate a constitution [Pg 204] that even an injection of pure water would kill them. How then could it fairly be argued that because these little animals had been killed by an injection of a substance extracted from the body, that substance must be aconitine? ”

“ Commercial aconitine is a mixture of the above alkaloids. The total yield of basic substances afforded by aconite root is not more than about 0·07 per cent.
The other constituents of aconite root are but imperfectly known. In the preparation of the alkaloids, a dark green mixture of resin and fat is obtained; it is much more abundant in European than in Nepal aconite (Groves) . The root contains Mannite, as proved by T. and H. Smith (1850) , together with cane-sugar, and another sugar which reduces cupric oxide even in the cold. Tannin is absent, or is limited to the corky coat. ”

“ In a case recorded by Taylor, in which a man died in three hours from eating a small quantity of aconitine root, the only morbid appearance found was a slight reddish-brown patch on the cardiac end of the stomach, of the size of half a crown; all the other organs being healthy. ”

“ We have before us its hydroiodate, forming colourless crystallized scales, which we find to be very sparingly soluble in cold alcohol or water. At boiling temperature the hydroiodate of atisine is readily dissolved; the aqueous solution on cooling yields beautiful crystals. They agree, according to Dunin, with the formula C46H74N2O4. HI + OH2; this chemist has also shown atisine not to be poisonous. The absence in the drug of aconitine is proved by medical experience, [69] and fully confirmed by the absence of any acridity in the root. ”

“ As a topical remedy, aconitine is most valuable for the relief of neuralgic and rheumatic pains. In neuralgia no remedy, I believe, will be found equal to it. One application of the tincture produces some amelioration, and after a few times use it frequently happens that the patient is cured. ”

“ Chemical Composition—According to Wright and Luff (see previous article) the roots of Aconitum ferox contain comparatively large quantities of pseudaconitine with a little aconitine and an alkaloid, apparently non-crystalline, which would appear not to agree with the analogous body from A. Napellus. ”

“ It was only after great pressure that I could persuade him to add an infinitesimal portion of aconitine to his prescriptions. The drug was a deadly one, he said, and the toxic dose was still to be determined. He could not push it in the case of a relative who trusted himself to his care. I tried to shake him in what I regarded as his absurd squeamishness—but in vain.
“But I had another resource. Bannerman's prescriptions were made up by a fellow named Barclay, who had been dispenser at Nathaniel's and afterwards set up as a chemist in Sackville Street. This man was absolutely in my power. ”

“ Stone, nothing could have made her take that dose of her own accord, nor could any one have persuaded her to take it, consciously. It was, without doubt, given to her secretly, by the clever ruse of the murderer. Of course it could not have been an accident. The marvelous part is, to my mind, how any one secured the poison. It is not an easy matter to buy aconitine.”
“Then that ought to make it easier to trace. If the public could easily procure it at will, there would be greater difficulty in running down the purchaser.” ”

“ There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation. That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid. But there is no poison in the price list which would in a quarter of an hour kill quietly and without fuss a man in perfect health. ”

“ Aconitine as met with in commerce has been found to vary greatly in purity, and therefore in physiological effect. It is of the utmost importance that a definite strength should uniformly attach to so powerful a drug, and this is secured in the ‘Wellcome’ Brand product, which is free from pseudaconitine and japaconitine, and from the non-toxic aconine and benzaconine.
Atropine Cocaine
The alkaloid Atropine is, under this brand, issued free from hyoscine and hyoscyamine. Cocaine and its hydrochloride are prepared in a state of purity answering fully the most rigid tests. ”

“ For example, the extract obtained from the urine caused symptoms to commence in a mouse in two minutes, and death in thirty minutes, and the symptoms observed by injecting a mouse with known aconitine coincided in every particular with the symptoms produced by the extraction from the urine.
With regard to the manner of using “life tests,” since in most cases extremely small quantities of the active principle will have to be identified, the choice is limited to small animals, and it is better to use mice or birds, rather than reptiles. ”

“ Aconitine, 8 gr.; rectified spirit, 2 fl. oz. In neuralgia; applied by means of a small piece of sponge mounted at the end of a stick. It must never be employed when the skin is broken or abraded; and it would be wise, in most cases, to dilute it with double its volume of proof spirit.
Lotion, Al′kaline. Syn. Lotio alkalina, L. POTASSÆ CARBONATIS, L. Prep. (P. Cod.) From salt of tartar, 1 oz.; water, 1 pint. Stimulant and detergent. Diluted with an equal bulk of water, it forms an excellent cosmetic wash to remove scurf from the hair. Sometimes it is made with almond milk instead of water. ”

“ If two healthy mice are taken, and the one fed with a little meal, to which a weighed quantity of the extract under experiment has been added, while to the other some meal mixed with a supposed equal dose of aconitine is given, then the symptoms may be compared; and several objections to any operative proceeding on such small animals are obviated. It is certain that any extract which causes distinct numbness of the lips will contain enough of the poison to kill a small bird or a mouse, if administered in the ordinary way. ”

“ So is suicide." Callista looked up, not to the doctor who dutifully faced the jury and would not look at her, but searching the rows of spectators. "Aconitine will cause numbness, tingling in the mouth, also in the fingers, possibly cramps in arms and legs. There's marked salivation, nausea, burning sensation in stomach and throat." ”

“ Again there were the Count and Mrs. Frothingham to be considered. In fact, there were too many suspects to decide among, without further evidence.
“Any luck?” Stone asked of Hardy, who came in to report.
“No, Mr. Stone. I’ve raked the drug shops thoroughly, and there’s no trace of a sale of aconitine. It’s practically impossible to buy such a substance. I mean, for the ordinary customer.” ”

“ The principal alkaloids which are dissolved in benzene are—strychnine, methyl and ethyl strychnine, brucine, emetine, quinine, cinchonine, atropine, hyoscyamine, physostigmine, aconitine, nepalin, the alkaloid of the Aconitum lycoctonum, aconellin, napellin, delphinine, veratrine, sabatrin, sabadilline, codeine, thebaine, and narcotine. ”

“ In this way some of it is invariably taken into the system, partly by direct absorption, and partly by the insect’s efforts to free itself from the foreign substance, in which it uses its legs and proboscis. For the symptoms witnessed after the [44] application of saponin, digitalin, and aconitine, the reader is referred to the articles on those substances.
In poisoning by sausages, bad meat, curarine, and in obscure cases generally, in the present state of science, experiments on living animals are absolutely necessary. ”

“ You note the intensity of the taste and you see what the strength of the solution is. Evidently that lump of sugar contained a very large dose of the poison. If the sugar had been dissolved in your tea, the quantity that you drank would have contained enough aconitine to lay you out within a few minutes; which would account for Mrs. Schallibaum's anxiety to get clear of the premises. She saw you drink from the cup, but I imagine she had not seen you turn the sugar out."
"No, I should say not, to judge by her expression. She looked terrified. She is not as hardened as her rascally companion." ”

“ In 1905, Dunstan and his collaborators discovered two new aconite alkaloids, indaconitine in ``mohri'' (Aconitum chasmanthum, Stapf) , and bikhaconitine in ``bikh'' (Aconitum spicatum) ; he also proposes to classify these alkaloids according to whether they yield benzoic or veratric acid on hydrolysis (Jour. Chem. Soc., 1905, 87, pp. 1620, 1650) .
From the root of Aconitum Napellus are prepared a liniment and a tincture. The dose of the latter (Brit. Pharmacop.) is of importance as being exceptionally small, for it is not advisable to give more than at most five drops at a time. ”