OPIUM 419 



During the war large quantities of Indian opium were imported into 

 this country in the form of a uniform, black, paste, in flat cakes of 

 2 Ib. wrapped in waxed paper. 



Constituents. Amongst the numerous constituents of opium the 

 most important are the alkaloids it contains. Of these no fewer than 

 twenty-one have been reported, but the existence of some of these in 

 the drug is open to considerable doubt. Chief of them, both in its 

 medicinal importance and in the quantity in which it exists, is 

 morphine ; narcotine and codeine are of secondary importance, and 

 next to these come thebaine, narceine, and papaverine. 1 



OTT 

 Morphine, C 17 H 19 N0 3 ,H 2 O (or C 17 H 17 NO< OH +H 2 0), forms colourless 



crystals, very slightly soluble in cold water but readily in solutions of caustic 

 alkalies or alkaline earths ; it is almost insoluble in cold ether, chloroform, or 

 benzene. Heated with hydrochloric acid in a sealed tube to 140-150, it 

 is partly converted into apomorphine (C 17 H 17 N0 2 ). Morphine is a powerful 

 hypnotic, but apomorphine, in addition to a hypnotic action, produces a powerful 

 emetic effect. 



OTT 

 Codeine, C 18 H 21 N0 3 , or methyl morphine (C 17 H 17 N0 2 <QQTT ) is usually 



obtained from the mother liquors from which morphine has been crystallise^, 

 but can also be prepared by methylating morphine. It forms large rhombic 

 crystals soluble in 80 parts of water and readily soluble in chloroform. It 

 is a strong base, and is liberated from its salts by fixed alkalies, but not by 

 ammonia. It has only a mild hypnotic action. 



Narcotine, C 22 H 23 NO 7 or C 19 H 14 (OCH 3 ) 3 NO 4 , crystallises readily in rhombic 

 prisms or needles, and may be extracted from the residue left after treating 

 opium with water ; it is a weak base and has little or no narcotic action, hence 

 it has also been called ' anarcotine.' 



All these are well-defined, crystalline alkaloids, and together con- 

 stitute in good dry opium about one-fifth of the weight of the drug. 



Amongst the other constituents attention must be directed to 

 meconic acid, HC 7 H 3 O 7 ,3H 2 0, a crystalline organic acid that exists 

 to the extent of about 5 per cent, combined with morphine ; this well- 

 characterised and easily identified acid is important in toxicological 

 investigations as corroborative of the presence of opium. 



Meconin and meconoiosin are two indifferent substances and exist 

 in small quantity only. 



Mucilage, sugar, wax, caoutchouc, and salts of calcium and 

 magnesium are also contained in opium, but starch, tannin, oxalic 

 acid, and fat, all of which are common constituents of plants, are 

 not found in it, and their presence therefore indicates adulteration of 

 the drug. 

 . The proportion of water contained in freshly imported Turkey 



1 For a complete list and a -table of the reactions by which they may be 

 distinguished, Henry's Plant Alkaloids, p. 199, may be consulted. 





