C 86 3. 



The narcotic principle has no taste nor smell. It 

 is soluble in about 400 parts of boiling water ; it is 

 insoluble in cold water : it is soluble in 24 parts of 

 boiling alcohol, and in 100 parts of cold alcohol. It 

 is very soluble in all acid menstrua. 



It has been shewn by De Rosne, that the action 

 of opium on the animal economy depends on this 

 principle. Many other substances besides the juice 

 of the poppy, possess narcotic properties ; but they 

 have not yet been examined with much attention. 

 The Lactuca sativa, or garden lettuce, and most of 

 the other lactucas yield a milky juice, which when 

 inspissated has the characters of opium, and probably 

 contains the same narcotic principle. 



1 1 . The bitter principle is very extensively diffus- 

 ed in the vegetable kingdom ; it is found abundantly 

 in the hop (Humilus lupilits^) in the common broom 

 (Spartium scoparlum^) in the chamomile (Anthemis 

 nobilis^) and in quassia, amara and excelsa. It is ob- 

 tained from those substances by the action of water or 

 alcohol, and evaporation. It is usually of pale yellow 

 colour ; its taste is intensely bitter. It is very solu- 

 ble, both in water and alcohol j and has little or no 

 action on alkaline, acid, saline or metallic solution. 



An artificial substance, similar to the bitter prin- 

 ciple, has been obtained by digesting diluted nitric 

 acid, on silk, indigo, and the wood of the white willow. 

 This substance has the property of dyeing cloth of a 

 bright yellow colour ; it differs from the natural bitter 

 principle in its power of combining with the alkalies : 

 in union with the fixed alkalies it constitutes crystal- 



