I9I2] Walter H. Eddy . 113 



pulverized in a mortar and extracted three times with a large excess 

 of ether for the removal of traces of admixed free base (morphin). 



Isolation of the product. The powder was next dissolved in a 

 small amount of water and this Solution poured into a mixture of 

 Yz ether and Yz alcohol. A copious precipitate resulted. The pre- 

 cipitate was gelatinous and dissolved easily in water. After dissolv- 

 ing the precipitate in water and filtering the Solution, the filtrate 

 was precipitated with alcohol-ether. This process was repeated sev- 

 eral times. The final product was dehydrated in the usual manner 

 with alcohol and ether. 



Special difficulties in the preparation of morphin mucoid. The 

 first Solutions of the Compound filtered very slowly. It was found 

 that this was due to excess of mucoid. When a large excess of 

 morphin was used there was less insoluble mucoid residue and filtra- 

 tion became correspondingly more rapid. 



Precipitation of the purified product with alcohol became in- 

 creasingly difficult with the increasing purity of the product. Am- 

 monium Sulfate, in excess, precipitated the product from its aqueous 

 Solution, but long dialysis was required to remove the salt. 



The purified product failed to respond to the iodic acid test for 

 morphin^ This fact was carefully investigated. The results 

 showed that the failure was not due to the quality of the iodic acid 

 used nor to interference with the test by the mucoid. In the puri- 

 fication of the product there seemed to be continuous loss of mor- 

 phin. This was presumably due to hydrolytic dissociation. 



Evidence of the compound-naturc of the product. The product 

 was water-soluble, demonstrating that it was neither mucoid nor 

 morphin, nor a mechanical mixture of the two. The aqueous Solu- 

 tion of the product frothed strongly on shaking and gave a good 

 biuret test, indicating its protein character. Addition of a few 

 drops of 0.2 per cent. hydrochloric acid Solution yielded a flocculent 

 precipitate of mucoid. 



Conclusions regarding morphin mucoid. Morphin and mucoid 



*For the detection of morphin, the iodic acid test was applied as follows: 

 I c.c. of the Solution to be tested was added to an equal volume of dilute 

 sulfuric acid Solution. To this was added a few c.c. of iodic acid Solution and 

 finally a little Chloroform. After vigorous shaking, the presence or absence of a 

 violet coloration served to indicate the presence or absence of morphin. 



