104 APPENDIX. 
as Dieterich has conclusively shewn, and as I only shook for about 
half an hour steadily, with continued shaking at intervals of ten 
minutes for two hours more, it is very probable that all of the mor- 
phine did not separate out. The high figures obtained by Squibb’s 
method are undoubtedly to be explained by the impurity of the 
resulting products, which fact could readily be detected by the 
naked eye, as they were invariably very dark-coloured, Despite all 
the washing that they were subjected to, they never once were even 
approximately near being colourless, and besides invariably dissolved 
in lime water only in part and. gave as a result a very dark-coloured 
solution, It was found that continued washing would not remove 
the impurities, for long before the crystals and filter paper shewed 
any signs of becoming decolourized, the wash water ran through 
absolutely pure and colourless. In both cases the morphine obtained 
by the U.S. P. method dissolved completely in lime water and gave 
a pure, limpid, clear solution, while that obtained by Fliickiger’s 
method, although it gave a colourless solution in lime water, yet left 
asmall residue amounting to several milligrams and consisting of 
narcotine, as did the residue obtained in Squibb’s method. This 
would indicate that in the presence of alcohol ‘and water, the ether 
does not completely dissolve all of the narcotine. 
Morphine Picrate. 
Inasmuch as this salt of morphine had not yet been described, 
and the similar salt of strychnine is practically insoluble in water, 
and hence enable us to determine the alkaloid as strychnine picrate, 
it was made by treating a solution of morphine hydrochlorate with 
a slight excess of picric acid, in the hope that it, too, might prove 
to be insoluble, and thus facilitate somewhat the method of deter- 
mining morphine. Recrystallized from alcohol it crystallizes in 
groups of fine yellow needles arranged most peculiarly in the shape 
of warts, which grow one along-side cf the other, and hang from the 
surface of the liquid looking much like plaits of hair. The salt 
melts, or, better, decomposes, without detonation at 157°C. It 
differs from the corresponding salt of strychnine, however, in not 
being insoluble in either water or alcohol, as determinations of its 
solubility gave the following results :— 
In distilled water at 13° C.—15-6975 grams of a saturated solution 
yielded 0°031 grams of morphine picrate (dried at — which 
gives a solubility of 1 part in 500 parts of water. 
