strych nine

[Mod. Lat. strychn(os); -ine ( Chem.).] Chem.: C21H22N2O2. Strychnia. A highly poisonous alkaloid, discovered in 1818 by Pelletier and Caventou in St. Ignatius' beans, and shortly afterward in Nux vomica seeds. It is obtained, together with brucine, by boiling Nux vomica seeds in dilute sulphuric acid until they become soft, crushing the seeds, and adding to the expre ed liquid an exce of calcium hydrate, which throws down the two alkaloids. On washing with cold alcohol, brucine is di olved, leaving strychnine in an impure state. When pure, it crystallizes in colorle , tetragonal prisms, having a very bitter and somewhat metallic taste, is almost insoluble in water, absolute alcohol, and ether, but soluble in spirit of wine and chloroform. Strychnine was scarcely heard of as a means of poisoning before the year 1855, the date of the Rugeley murders in England, for which Palmer was tried at the Old Bailey in 1856, and executed. The symptoms are very marked, and comprise violent tetanic convulsions, laborious respiration, from sin, aş; expect, Xenophon, exist. ph = f. The American Dictionary and Cyclopedia strychnos the tightening of the chest muscles, spasmodic contraction of the heart, and rigidity of the spinal column. These are succeeded by a short calm, after which they are again repeated until death or progre toward recovery ensues, the time being about two hours after taking the poison. From 1 to 2 grains and upward generally proves fatal, and the presence of the poison can be best recognized by the color-test. When strychnine is brought under the influence of nascent oxygen, the former instantly acquires a rich blue color, succe ively pa ing into purple, violet, crimson, orange, and yellow. (Woodman & Tidy .)