137 



hydrochloric acid it does not strike the bhie colour observed by 

 Pelletier. The siilphate, nitrate and hydrochloride of Narcein 

 are crystallisable, yet of acid reaction. 



]Vai'COtill=C4o H25 NO14. In the unripe and the matured 

 capsules of Papaver somniferum ; also alleged to exist in the root of 

 Aconitum Na])ellus, and called at first Aconeliin. Exhaust opium 

 with cold water, treat it afterwards with water containing hydro- 

 chloric acid, precipitate the latter solution with bicarbonate of 

 soda, exhaust the deposit with alcohol of 80%, distil one-half to 

 two-thirds of the alcohol, and pour the remnant ]>oiling hot into a 

 flat vessel. The Narcotin will soon crystalKse and has to be 

 washed with cold alcohol and recrystallised in hot alcohol. Or, 

 begin by drawing out the opium with water and hydrochloric 

 acid, and precipitate the Narcotin from the liquid by means of 

 chloride of sodium; dissolve the deposit in hydrochloric acid, 

 I^recipitate with potash and recrystallise in alcohol. — Forms 

 colourless needles of pearly lustre, inodorous and tasteless, neutral ; 

 fuses at 170° and decomposes afterwards; is insoluble in cold 

 water, not or very slightly soluble in boiling water, in 100 parts 

 cold and in 20 parts boiling alcohol of 85%, in 126 parts cold and 

 in 40 parts boiling ether, most readily in chloroform, little in oils, 

 not in alkalies, readily in acids; becomes yellow and then orange 

 with concentrated sulphuric acid ; with nitric acid yellow, and on 

 warming red; with sulphuric acid, containing a little nitric acid, 

 beautifully blood-red. Its salts have an acid reaction, ai'e mostly 

 imcrystallisable, have a more bitter taste than the salts of morphin; 

 dissolve in water, alcohol and ether; those formed with weak acids 

 are decomposed by much water, those formed with volatile acids 

 partly lose the acid in evaporating. The hydrates and the carbon- 

 ates of alkalies precipitate the Narcotiu completely. 



IVartliecic Acid. Peculiar crystalline acid of the herb of 

 Narthecium ossifragum. Draw out with water, containing a 

 little soda, precipitate the extract, acidified by acetic acid, with 

 acetate of lead and afterwards with subacetate of lead, decompose 

 the latter deposit with sulphuret of hydrogen, evapoi'ate the filtrate 

 to honey consistence, di-aw out with ether and eva})orate the 

 latter. — White, needle-shaped ciystals of acid taste, not volatile, 

 soluble in water, alcohol and ethei-, yields with the pure and with 

 the earthy alkalies readily soluble salts, which are precipitable by 

 most of the salts of heavy metals. 



Nartliecill. Peculiar rancid constituent of the herl) of Narthe- 

 cium ossifragum. Exhaust with water, draw out the remnant 

 with alcohol, precipitate the tincture with acetate of lead, de- 

 colourise with animal charcoal, remove the excess of lead by 

 sulphuret of hydrogen, distil off most of the alcohol, allow the 

 remnant to evaporate spontaneously, and purify by recrystallising 



