234 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



assayed to crystalline white morphine. For this pur- 

 pose, the firm of Alfred A. Keun & Co., (1906), have a 

 complete laboratory, well equipped with the most mod- 

 ern apparatus, including stills, vacuum apparatus, 

 machinery and delicate glassware and reagents. Their 

 chemist, Mr. Agop Alpiar, had at that time been en- 

 gaged in this special work for fifteen years, and aside 

 from his great personal experience his aim has been to 

 keep abreast of the world's literature on opium and 

 alkaloidal assay methods, by means of a voluminous 

 special library. In this connection it may be of interest 

 to state that he obtains 1.80 per cent more of white, 

 crystalline morphine, than the assay process indicated 

 by the U. S. Pharmacopeia. This, Mr. Alpiar considers, 

 is due mostly to loss in the mother-liquors, where such 

 small amounts as the U. S. P. directs, are employed. 

 Such variations in assay by means of quantity influence 

 is not exceptional, when assay processes employing 

 minute portions are contrasted with successively con- 

 nected batches on a manufacturing scale. It thus 

 becomes possible to utilize, profitably, mother-liquors 

 that, on a small scale, are necessarily thrown away. 

 PACKING THE OPIUM FOR EXPORT. In order to 

 prevent mould, fermentation and subsequent struc- 

 tural changes that are liable to occur in the moist drug 

 on protracted sea voyages and in storage for morphine 

 makers, the drug is allowed to lose its excess of mois- 

 ture before being packed in tin-lined cases, each holding 

 from 130 to 170 pounds. This does not apply to com- 

 mercial opium for general use (written in 1908), al- 

 though it is likely that the crude drug will soon pass 

 from pharmacy. 



