60 PAPAVERACE^. 



In the year 1826, Dublanc^ observed in opium a peculiar substance 

 having neither basic nor acid properties which was afterwards (1832) 

 prepared in a state of purity by Couerbe. It has been called Opianyl 

 or (by Couerbe) Meconine. It has the composition C^"H^"0* = 

 C<'H2.CH-.O.CO(OCH')2. Meconin forms prisms which fuse under 

 water at 77° C. or per se at 110°, and distil at 155°; it dissolves in about 

 20 parts of boiling water, from which it may be readily crystallized. 

 Meconin may be formed by heating narcotiue with nitric acid. 



An analogous substance Meconoiosin (JWO' = Cm\ (0H)'.(CH')2, 

 has been discovered in 1878 by T. and H. Smith. Meconoiosin is 

 readily soluble in 27 parts of cold water, and melts at 88° C. When 

 heated with slightly diluted sulphuric acid, and when the evaporation 

 has reached a certain point, meconoiosin produces a deep red; with 

 meconin the coloration is a beautiful green. 



Proportion of peculiar constituents — The substances described 

 in the foregoing section exist in opium in ver^^ variable proportion; and 

 as it is on their presence, but especially that of morphine, that the value 

 of the drug depends, the importance of exact estimation is evident. 



Opium whether required for analysis or for pharmaceutical prepara- 

 tions has to be taken exclusively in the dry state. The amount of 

 water it contains is so uncertain that the drug must be reduced to a 

 fixed standard by complete desiccation at 100° C, before any given 

 weight is taken. 



Morphine — Guibourt* who analysed a large number of samples of 

 opium, and whose skill and care in such research are not disputed, 

 obtained from a sample of French opium produced near Amiens, 2288 

 per cent, of morphine crystallized from spirit of wine. This per- 

 centage has not to our knowledge been ever exceeded. From another 

 specimen produced in the same district he got 21*23 per cent., from 

 a third 2067. The lowest percentage from a French opium was 14*96, 

 — in each case reckoned on material previously dried. 



Chevallier extracted from opium grown by Aubergier at Clermont 

 in the centre of France, 17'50 per cent, of morphine. Decharmes from 

 a French opium obtained 17*6 per cent., and Biltz from a German 

 opium 20 per cent. Opium produced in Wlirtemberg sent to the 

 Vienna Exhibition of 1873 afforded Hesse 12 to 15 per cent, of mor- 

 phine ; and opium from Silesia 9 to 10 per cent.^ 



A pure American opium collected in the State of Vermont yielded 

 Proctor 15*75 per cent, of morphine and 2 percent of narcotine.* 



The opium of Asia Minor furnishes very nearly the same pro- 

 portions of morphine as that of Europe. The maximum recorded by 

 Guibourt is 21*46 per cent, obtained from a Smyrna opium sold in 

 Paris. The mean yield of 8 samples of opium sent by Delia Sudda of 

 Constantinople to the Paris Exhibition of 1855 was 14*78 per cent. 

 The mean percentage of morphine afforded by 12 other samples of 

 Turkey opium obtained from various sources was 14*66. 



1 Annales de Chimie et de Physique, la quantitd de morphine que Vopium doit 

 xlix. (1832) 5—20. — The paper was read contenir, Paris, 1862. 



before the Acad, de M^d., 13th May, s Schroff, Ausstellungsbericht, Arznei- 



1826. waaren, p. 31. 



2 M&moire aur le dosage de VOpium et sur * Am. Journ. ofPharm. xviii. (1870) 124. 



