On the Chemical Constitution ofNarcotine. 399 



we are greatly indebted for the scrupulous care bestowed on its pre- 

 paration and purification. He stated that it was extracted from the 

 residues which had accumulated during the preparation of very large 

 quantities of morphine and codeine, from opium of various qualities 

 and from various sources. If, therefore distinct varieties of narcotine 

 exist, there was reason to expect that our narcotine would prove to 

 be a mixture of several of them. The results of all our analyses, 

 however, agree with the formula C 22 H 23 NO 7 , as shown by the 

 following Table, which gives the highest, lowest, and mean results 

 obtained : — 



Calculated. Found. 

















Maxima. 



Minima. 



Mean. 



264 



6392 



64-00 



63-42 



63-79 



23 



5-57 



605 



5-69 



5-81 



14 



3-39 



3-40 



3-26 



3-32 



112 



27-12 



27-53 



26-72 



27-08 



413 



100-00 









C 22 H 23 NO 7 



The formula which has been generally admitted since the publi- 

 cation of Wohler's* and Blyth'sf researches on narcotine, namely, 

 C 23 H 23 NO 7 , requires the following per-centages : — 



Carbon 64*61 



Hydrogen 5*85 



Nitrogen 3-30 



Oxygen 26-24 



We may here remark that the recorded analyses of narcotine and 

 its salts, with the exception of one by Dr. Hofmann, published by 

 Blyth, agree at least as well with the former as with the latter for- 

 mula ; moreover, during the course of experiments made with several 

 pounds of narcotine, we have observed nothing, either in the be- 

 haviour of this base itself, or in the nature or proportions of its pro- 

 ducts of decomposition, to indicate that it was variable in composition. 

 Further data are, however, needed for the final decision of this 

 question, and we shall accordingly feel very much indebted to any 

 chemist who has a specimen of narcotine of well-ascertained origin, 

 or which he believes to have a different composition from that given 

 above, if he will kindly spare us a sufficient quantity for analysis. 

 II. Composition of Cot amine. 



The combustion of cotarnine with oxide of copper and oxygen, as 

 well as the determination of the proportion of platinum in its chloro- 

 platinate, leads us to adopt the formula C 12 H 13 NO 3 for this base. 

 The formula usually adopted contains one more atom of carbon ; but, 

 independently of our analytical results, the supposition that cotarnine 

 contains only twelve atoms of carbon is supported by the simple 

 manner in which the action of oxidizing substances on narcotine can 

 then be expressed, namely, by the equation 



C 22 H 23 NO 7 + O = C 10 H 10 O 3 + C 12 H 13 NO 3 , 



Narcotine. Opianic acid. Cotarnine. 



* Ann. Chem. Pharm. vol. 1. p. 1. 

 f Phil Mag. S. 3. vol. xxv. p. 363. 



