156 f : MORPHINE. 
spirit rectified. The liquor being again filtered, while in a state of ebulition, 
the morphine separates as it cools. The colouring matter is afterwards got 
rid of by repeated crystallization. Dr. Thompson gives the following, which 
he considers an easy method of procuring morphine in a state of purity. He 
precipitates a strong infusion of opium, by means of caustic ammonia; this 
precipitate he separates by the filter; the infusion is then evaporated to one 
sixth its volume, and a new precipitate obtained, by again treating the in- 
fusion with caustic ammonia; this precipitate is morphine, mixed with co- 
louring matter: when sufficient time has been given for the deposit to form, 
he separates it by means of the filter, and washes it with cold water. After ~ 
it is sufficiently drained, he sprinkles it with aleohol, which passes through 
the filter, dissolving and carrying with it a large portion of the colouring 
matter, and a little morphine. The remaining morphine is then dissolved 
in acetic acid, and any ¢olouring matter removed, by treating the solution 
with a little ivory black: the mixture being often shaken during twenty-four 
hours, and then thrown on the filter. The liquid passes through perfectly 
colourless, and by treating it a third time with the caustic ammonia, the 
morphine falls down in the form of a white powder. By dissolving this base 
in alcohol, and allowing the solution to evaporate spontaneously, the mor- 
phine is obtained in the form of beautiful crystals, each a rectangular, four- 
sided prism.* i 
Morphine or Morphia, when in a state of purity, is in the form of brilliant 
erystals, possessing many characteristic properties of the alkalies; white, 
with a silky lustre, greasy to the touch, and friable. Its crystals are tetra- 
hedral prisms, whose bases are rhomboids, more rarely single or double py- 
ramids; sometimes it is found in slender prisms, collected into bundles. It 
is of greater specific gravity than distilled water ; it is inodorous; has an 
astringent and bitter taste. It is soluble in acids, ether, and alcohol, but 
scarcely so in water, four hundred parts of which, according to Derosnes,+ 
are required to dissolve one part. It unites with all the acids, except the 
carbonic, forming neutral salts. It restores the blue colour of litmus paper, 
forms an intense blue with the persalts of iron, and reddens with nitric acid. 
It decomposes the salts of mercury and lead, muriate of copper, and the sul- 
phate of iron; but forms a triple salt with acetateofcopper. It melts when 
heated, and crystallizes in cooling. It burns readily, and’ when heated in 
* Vide Annals of Philosophy, for June 1820. + Annales de Chimie, vol. xiv. 
