
CRYSTALLINE CONSTITUENTS OF OPIUM. 359 
The formula of the salt is therefore C,, H,, NO, H Cl Pt Cl, + 2 HO. 
Deficiency of time and material have prevented the full examination of any 
other salts of thebaine. The sulphate was prepared by adding sulphuric acid to 
an ethereal solution of thebaine; it was deposited partly in crystals, partly as a 
resinous mass which became crystalline on standing. This was dissolved in ab- 
solute alcohol, and thrown down by ether as a white powder. A determination 
of sulphuric acid gave 16-53 per cent., which is not far removed from the quantity 
required by theory for a sesquisulphate. 
Hydrochlorate of thebaine gives, with a spiritous solution of corrosive subli- 
mate, a fine white crystalline precipitate of a double salt, and the alcoholic solu- 
tion of the base itself gives a bulky precipitate insoluble in water and alcohol; 
neither of these substances, however, could be got of constant composition. 
Terchloride of gold gives a fine reddish-orange precipitate, which, at 212°, 
fuses into a resinous mass. 
IX. Action of Nitric Acid on Narcotine. 
Narcotine has been already repeatedly analysed, and its constitution sa- 
tisfactorily determined. I have not, therefore, attempted to repeat its analysis, 
or to add any confirmatory evidence of the correctness of its formula, but have 
directed my attention to the action of nitric acid upon it, which I had found, by 
previous experiments, to give a series of products varying with the circumstances 
of the action and the concentration of the acid. When proper precautions are 
taken, the whole series of products which Wouter discovered by the action of 
peroxide of manganese and sulphuric acid upon narcotine, are obtained along 
with several new substances, which stand in very intimate relation to these 
compounds, and are peculiarly remarkable, both in their chemical relations and 
the circumstances under which they are produced. 
When concentrated nitric acid is added to narcotine, a very violent action 
ensues, even in the cold; red fumes are copiously evolved, and a thick resinous- 
looking red matter is left behind. With somewhat weaker acid and a gentle 
heat, a similar action takes place, and a red fluid is obtained, which, by evapora- 
tion, yields an amorphous orange residue. In both cases, the action was much 
too violent, and the product obtained obviously the result of several complex ac- 
tions. The action of nitric acid in a more dilute state was therefore tried and 
after several experiments, the following was found to be the most advantageous 
method of treatment. Six hundred grains of narcotine are mixed with two-and- 
a-half ounces, by measure, of nitric acid, of specific gravity 1-400, diluted with 
ten ounces of water, and exposed in the water-bath to an uniform temperature 
of 120° Fahr. The narcotine fuses into a yellowish mass, which, by continuous 
_ agitation, slowly dissolves without the evolution of red fumes. When the solution 
is nearly complete, a small quantity of a white deposit begins to make its appear- 
VOL. XX. PART III. ; 5E 
