OPIANIC ACID. 



OPIUM, ALKALOIDS OF. 



Unto of silver or some other *t iiuuUut ; the ulcerations generally 

 proceed beet when left to thenuelvc*, the chasms which they leave 

 being gradually filled up, and the yellow tinge of the cornea !.:. li 

 accompanies them being exchanged for a gray or bluiah colour ; the 

 more serious, effect*, such a* staphylonia, extensive leucoma, sloughing, 

 protrusion of toe iris, Ac., are irremediable, 



Inflammation of the iris has already been treated of. [IRITIS.] 

 Inflammation of the membrane of the aqueous humour a not 

 uncommon in young persons ; it it marked by dullness and b linns* of 

 the cornea (which is aurroundcd by the vascular red lone formed by 

 the drtnded vnsseli of the aelerotica), an alteration in the colour of 

 the iris, which assumes a dull reddish hue and a turbid or purulent 

 appearance of the aqueous humour, with, in tome caws, hypopium. 

 The proper treatment doe* not differ eeMOtially from that of inflamma- 

 tion of the inn or aelerotica, with which this form of ophthalmia, like 

 all the affections of the deep seated timue* of the eye, U very generally 



C Bj .. i. 



'1 : .-.-'. 



inflammations of the parti of the eye which are still more 

 deeply seated are much rarer than any of the preceding; their 

 symptom* also are more obscure, and they are seldom found uncom- 

 bined with those of some other form of ophthalmia. Their signs ore 

 similar to those of the inflammations of the sclerotica and cornea ; but 

 the intolerance of light and the loss of vision are usually greater than 

 would arise from the degree of inflammation which exists in the visible 

 tissues. The treatment must be similar to that for the acute inflamma- 

 tion of the iris or cornea, and be actively administered ; for the nature 

 of the parts affected renders the least disorganisation of them of the 

 highest importance. 



All kinds of ophthalmia may either become .chronic after having 

 existed for some time as acute diseases, or may be chronic from their 

 commencement. Their symptoms in either case differ only in degree 

 from those of the corresponding acute forms, and the treatment of 

 them should be the same in principle, though less active. Counter- 

 irritation by blisters or other means, applied to the neighbourhood of 

 the eyes, or setons in the back of the neck, are among the most useful 

 means ; and to the milder forms of astringent lotions some preparation 

 of opium, as the rinnin opii, may be added with advantage. 



OPIANIC ACID. [OPIUM, ALKALOIDS OK.] 



OPIANINE. [OPIUM, ALKALOIDS OF.] 



OPIAXO-SULPHUROUS ACID. [OPIUM, ALKALOIDS OF.] 



OPIAXYL. [Ont-M, ALKALOIDS or.] 



OPICI. [0CL] 



"I'lL'SL. ALKALOIDS OF. Opium the dried juice that exudes 

 from incisions made in poppy heads while still growing on the plant 

 owes its well-known narcotic properties to certain organic bases or 

 alkaloids. The number of these alkaloids at present known is seven ; 

 their names are 1. Morphine; 2. Codeine; 8. Thebaine; t. Papaverine; 

 6. Opicaune; 6. ffareotine; 7. Narcane. They exist in opium chiefly 

 in combination with MECOKIC ACID, and associated with them are 

 opianyl [Mtcxixix], resinous matter, caoutchouc, fat, gum, volatile oil, 

 ligniu, and small quantities of inorganic salts. The following table 

 exhibits the per-centage composition of four varieties of Smyrna (the 

 best) opium, analysed by Mulder in the year 1 836, and consequently 

 before thebaine, papaverine, and opianine were rescued from the ill- 

 defined matter called " gummy extractive : " 



Msreeuw . 

 sfseonlM . 

 Meoonic Kid 

 Fst 



Caoutchouc 



Gnmmjr extrsotire 

 Gum 

 Muctu . 

 Wster 



1. 



10-842 

 6-808 

 0-678 

 6-062 

 0-804 

 5-124 

 J-166 

 6-012 

 3-582 



25-200 

 1-041 



u N| 

 8-846 

 2-148 



100-000 



2. 



4-106 



8-150 



0-884 



7-506 



0-846 



3-968 



1-390 



5-026 



2-028 



31-470 



2-896 



17-098 



12-236 



2-496 



3. 



9-852 



9-360 



0-848 



7-684 



0-314 



7-620 



1-816 



3-674 



4-112 



21-834 



0-698 



21-068 



11-422 



0-508 



100-000 100-000 



4. 



3-800 

 6-546 

 0-620 



13-240 

 0-608 

 6-644 

 1-508 

 3-206 

 1-834 



25-740 

 0-896 



18-022 



14-002 

 3-334 



100-000 



The morphia is however sometimes present to the extent of twelve, 

 and in some French opium prepared in different parts of the Sornmo 

 department even twenty to twenty-two, per cent. Constantinople 

 opium varies somewhat, but is usually as rich in alkaloids as Smyrna 

 opium, while Persian opium is generally poor in alkaloids, and Indian 

 opium midway, in that respect, between the Smyrna and Persian 

 varieties. 



Separatum oftht opium principle from each, other. The methods by 

 which any single constituent of opium is extracted are tolerably easy ; 

 the isolation of each one, however, from the same specimen of opium 

 if a matter of far greater difficulty, and can only be successfully carried 

 out by working with Urge quantities of raw material. Fortunately 

 the operation is seldom or never necessary, and will only bo given here 

 as an illustration of the relations which the principles bear to each 

 other. The following outline of the method adopted is abridged from 

 Miller's Chemistry/ vol. iii, p. 277. 



Three pounds of opium are exhausted with water ; from the in- 

 soluble residue narcotiiu may be extracted by digesting in acetic acid, 

 precipitating with ammonia, and purifying with animal charcoal; from 

 the evaporated infusion, neutralised with chalk, mtconic arid is pre- 

 cipitated by chloride of calcium, and the meconate of lime farther 

 treated as described under MECOXIC ACID ; the clear liquid filtered from 

 the meconate of lime yields crystals of hydrochlorate of wtory./. 

 being concentrated ; farther concentration of the liquid just named 

 causes hydroohlorates of morphine and codeine to crystallise out, from 

 which codeine is dissolved out by ammonia and afterwards repn-eipi- 

 tated by potash ; ammonia added to the black mother liquor filtered 

 from the hydrochlorates of morphine and codeine precipitates /' 

 and paparrrinr, which are subsequently separated from each other by 

 basic acetate of lead, while nomine and meconin remain in the am- 

 moniacal solution ; from the latter, narceine is precipitated by acetate of 

 lead, and meconin then alone remains dissolved. Opianine has hitherto 

 only been found in Egyptian opium. 



1. Morphine (CH,,NO.+ 2Aq.), Morphia, Morphina. This alkaloid 

 derives its name from Morpheut, the god of sleep, in allusion to its 

 narcotic properties. It was probably known during the 17th century, 

 as Ludwig notices, in 1688, a substance called magitteri/ t>f opium, pos- 

 sessing properties similar to those of the body in question. Morphine 

 is found only in plants of the poppy tribe [PAPAVEB, in NAT. HIM-. 

 Div.], and is generally combined with meconic acid, but sometimes 

 with sulphuric acid. 



Morphine may be extracted from opium in several ways. The 

 ' London Pharmacopoeia ' directs that the opium be thoroughly ex- 

 hausted with water, and chloride of lead added to the resulting strained 

 liquor until no more precipitate of meconate of lead is thrown down ; 

 the nitrate is then evaporated to the crystallising point, the crystals of 

 hydrochlorate of morphine purified from colouring matter by digesting 

 with animal charcoal and recrystallisation, and morphine precipitated 

 from the hydrochlorate by addition of ammonia. 



Robinson's process, modified by Gregory, somewhat resembles that 

 just described, but the aqueous infusion is first neutralised with car- 

 bonate of lime, and chloride of calcium is then used in the place of 

 chloride of lead. 



Mohr and Thiboume'ry's method is baaed on the solubility of mor- 

 phine, and insolubility of the other bases, in lime water. It consists 

 in thoroughly exhausting the opium by boiling two or three times in 

 water, gradually adding the resulting decoction to boiling diluted milk 

 of lime, filtering, evaporating, and neutralising the lime by chloride 

 of ammonium, and finally purifying the morphine thus precipitated by 

 treatment with animal charcoal and recrystallisation. 



Eitimation of morphine. M. Fordos has recently (1857) published a 

 process for determining the amount of morphine contained in any 

 specimen of opium. A weighed quantity is macerated with water for 

 twenty-four hours, the insoluble portion triturated in a mortar, thrown 

 on a filter, and washed three or four times with water. The whole of 

 the liquors ore then mixed together, and a third part of them treated 

 gradually with ammonia until, after brisk agitation, a slight ammoniacal 

 odour is perceptible ; by this operation the quantity of ammonia neces- 

 sary for the precipitation of the whole of the bases is known; the 

 latter cannot, however, be at once collected, as much resinous and 

 colouring matter is also thrown down by the ammonia. The next step 

 therefore is to add an equal volume of alcohol to the remaining two- 

 thirds of the mixed liquors, and then double the quantity of ammonia 

 used with the one-third. The alcohol has the effect of keeping in 

 solution all the resin and colouring matter; and although it retards the 

 precipitation of the morphine, the whole of that alkaloid goes down in 

 crystals after standing for three days, and may be collected on a tared 

 filter, washed with ether and chloroform to separate narcotine, and 

 finally weighed. The amount of opium recommended to be operated 

 upon is fifteen grammes (281 J grains). 



Morphine is colourless and inodorous, but has a persistent bitter 

 taste. It crystallises in transparent prisms, is soluble in one thousand 

 parts of cold, and four hundred of boiling, water. It is readily soluble 

 m boiling alcohol, but insoluble in ether or chloroform ; ammonia also 

 dissolves it slightly. Its alcoholic solution communicates pow.-itnl 

 left-handed rotation to a polarised ray. Heated, it parts with its 

 water of crystallisation, melts, and on cooling solidifies into a radiated 

 crystalline mass. 



Morphine is exceedingly poisonous. It is a powerful base, com- 

 bining with acids to form a well marked series of crystalline salts, of 

 which the hydrochlorate and acetate are extensively used in medicine. 



Hydrochlorate of morphine (C S4 H 1(I NO,,HC1,+ 6Aq.), frequently 

 called muriate of morphia, is a colourless, inodorous, bitter salt, which 

 crystallises in plumose acicular crystals : it is soluble in 16 to 2" 

 its weight of water ; and when boiling water is saturated with it, a 

 crystalline mass is formed as it cools ; it is also dissolved by alcohol. 

 When exposed to a red heat, it is totally decouiixwed and disxi 

 Its preparation from opium has already been described. 



Act lute of morphine is pre]>arcd by dissolving the alkaloid in acetic 

 .u-id, and evaporating the solution so that crystals may form ; these are 

 not however very readily procured, and by the evaporation of the 

 solution a part of the acid is sometimes dissipated, and a portion of 

 the acetate, suffering partial decomposition, is rendered insoluble in 

 water. 



