OPIUM. 



57 



Indian opium yields from 60 to 68 per cent, of matter soluble in cold 

 water.^ 



The peculiar constituents of opium are of basic, acid, or neutral 

 nature. Some of these substances were observed in opium as early as 

 the 17th and 18th century, and designated M agist eriiiTYi Opii. Bucholz 

 in 1802 vainly endeavoured to obtain a salt from the extract by 

 crystallization. In 1803, however, Charles Derosne, an apothecary of 

 Paris, in diluting a »syrupy aqueous extract of opium^ observed crystals 

 of the substance now called Narcotine, which he prepared pure. He 

 believed that the same body was obtained by precipitating the mother 

 hquor with an alkali, but what he so got was morphine. It is needless 

 to pursue the further researches of Derosne. Ingenious as they were, 

 it was reserved for Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertiirner, apothecary 

 of Eimbeck in Hanover (nat^ 1783, oh 1841) to discover their true 

 interpretation, 



Sertiirner had been engaged since 1805 with the chemical investi- 

 gation of opium, and in 1816 he summarized his results in the state- 

 ment that he had enriched science (we now translate his own w^ords^) 



not only with the knowledfje of a remarkable new vegetable acid 



[Mekonsdure (meconic acid) which he had made known as Opiumsdure 

 Vl^S^S], but also with the discovery of a new alkaline salifiable base, 

 Morphiuvi, one of the most remarkable substances, and apparently 

 related to ammonia." Sertiirner in fact distinctly recognised the basic 

 nature and the organic constitution of morphium (now called Morphine, 

 Morphia, or Morphinuni), and prepared a number of its crystalline 

 salts. He likewise demonstrated the poisonous nature of these sub- 

 stances by experiments on himself and others. Lastly, he pointed out, 

 though very incorrectly, the difference between morphine and the so- 

 Jelled Opium-salt (Narcotine) of Derosne. It is possible that this 

 atter chemist may have had morphine in his hands at the same time 

 as bertiirner, or even earlier. This honour is also due to S^guin, 

 ^hose paper '^ Sur VOpium;' read at the Institute, December 24, 1804, 

 ^as, strange to say, not published till 1814,' To Sertiirner, however, 

 ^undoubtedly belongs the merit of first makinor known the existence of 



Q-. ^..^ ^XV.XXW ^^ XXX ^U x.x«.x^xxx^ 



ganic alkalis in the vegetable kingdom,^ — a series of bodies practically 

 ernimable. As to opium, it still remains after nearly seventy years 

 a nidm of new substances. 



solutions of morphine in acids or in alkalis rotate the plane of 

 polarization to the left. 



th f ^<^rphine in opium is combined with meconic acid, and is 



hi \^^ easily soluble in water.' The Narcotine is present in the 



./ ^ ' ^^^ ^^^ ^® extracted by chloroform, boiling alcohol, benzol, 



^mer, or volatile oiV but not by water. It dissolves in 3 parts of 



S T' '"^ ^? ^^ boiling alcohol, in 21 of benzol, in 40 of boiling 

 ^- Its alkaline properties are very weak, and it does not affect 



V Eatwpll ?™*"^ official statements given alcaline de la morphine, et avoir ainsi ouvert 



une voieqiii produit de graudes decouvertes 

 mMicales.*' 



' Gilbert '^'''j^^^ F^P^/ "1^^^^^ ""^ P- 50. 

 ^ ^^oert s AnnaUn der Physik, Iv. (1817) 



^Annalfi /t m. * There are exceptional cases in which it 



'The ^«f-f ^/^^f^^y ^cii. (1814) 225, is asserted that water does not take up the 



"^^^e, 1831 1 , France on the 27th whole amount of morphine. 



SOOOfraucsL^iy^^ ^ ^^^^^^"^^'^^^^P'^izeof «In large crystals by means of oil of 



pour avoir reconnu la nature turpentine. 



