=ALKALOIDS OF ACONITE=. The nature of the active principle of aconite root does not appear to have been satisfactorily determined. Messrs Groves, Wright, and Williams contend that the _Aconitum napellus_ yields an active crystalline alkaloid, which they distinguish as _Aconitine_, and to which they assign the formula C_{33}H_{43}NO_{12}; they add that additionally the root contains more or less of another active alkaloid, which they term _Pseudaconitine_, and which is represented by the formula C_{36}H_{49}NO_{11}; they also assert that the extract of the roots contains varying quantities of certain decomposition products resulting from the saponification of the above bases by the acids, which are produced by the breaking up of part of the aconitine. The name of these decomposition products is _Aconine_ and _Pseudaconine_. Of _Aconitum ferox_ they report that it yields a comparatively large quantity of _Pseudaconitine_ and a small quantity of _Aconitine_. They further affirm that the so-called aconitine of commerce is a mixture of true aconitine and pseudaconitine with variable quantities of their alteration products, aconine and pseudaconine, and of certain amorphous unnamed alkaloids. Messrs Paul and Kingzett contest the accuracy of these deductions, and dispute the correctness of the formula given to aconitine. Dr Paul doubts whether the alkaloid to which the active properties of the root are ascribed has ever yet been obtained in an isolated condition. He thinks it probable that the substance obtained from aconite root was to a great extent a salt of an acid, like aconitic acid. For further information the reader is referred to the ‘Pharmaceutical Year Book’ for 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, and 1877. =AL′KANET.= _Syn._ ANCHU′SA, L.; ORCANETTE, Fr.; ORKANET, Ger.; OR′CHANET*, DYER’S AL′KANET, D. BU′GLOSS*. The _anchu′sa tincto′′ria_ (Willd.; _lithosper′mum tincto′′rium_——Linn.), a deciduous herbaceous plant, with a perennial, dark blood-red root. _Hab._ Asia Minor, Greece, Hungary, &c. It is also largely cultivated in the neighbourhood of Montpellier. The dried root (ALKANET ROOT; RADIX ANCHUSÆ, R. A. TINCTORIÆ) is chiefly imported from the Levant. It contains a beautiful blood-red colour, which it freely gives out to oils, fats, wax, spirits, essences, and similar substances, by simply infusing it in them, and is consequently much employed to colour these articles. Wax tinged with it, and applied on warm marble, stains it of a rich flesh-colour, which sinks deep into the stone, and possesses considerable durability. Its spirituous tincture also imparts a deep red to marble.