460 Messrs. A. Matthiessen and C. R. A. Wright on the [June 10, 



The physiological effects of apomorphia are very different from those of 

 morphia ; a very small dose produces speedy vomiting and considerable 

 depression, but this soon passes off, leaving no after ill effects, — facts of 

 which we have repeatedly had disagreeable proof while working with it. 



Dr. Gee is now studying these effects, and has found that ^ of a grain of 

 the hydrochlorate subcutaneously injected, or J grain taken by the mouth, 

 produces vomiting in from four to ten minutes. Our friend Mr. Prus al- 

 lowed himself to be injected with y 1 ^ grain, which produced vomiting in less 

 than ten minutes. From Dr. Gee's experiments on himself and others, he 

 concludes that the hydrochlorate is a non-irritant emetic and powerful anti- 

 stimulant. As from these properties it appears probable that it may come 

 into use in medicine, we have called it apomorphia, rather than morphinine, 

 to avoid any possible mistakes in writing prescriptions. 



Apomorphia is likewise formed by heating morphia and dilute sulphuric 

 acid (1 vol. acid to 8 or 10 of water) in sealed tubes to 140°-150°for three 

 hours. It appears possible that the substance obtained by Arppe * s sub- 

 sequently named sulphomorphide by Laurent and Gerhardt t> is an impure 

 sulphate of apomorphia, as the formula deduced by these latter chemists 

 from their analysis, C 34 H 36 N 2 8 S, is identical with that of this sul- 

 phate, (C 17 H 17 N0 2 ) 2 H 2 $0 4 . They, however, considered it a species of 

 amide. On repeating Arppe's experiments, we have obtained apomorphia 

 from the product. The physical characters ascribed to sulphomorphide (of 

 becoming green on keeping, especially on heating, of communicating this 

 green tint to water, and of solubility in caustic alkalies, producing a brown 

 substance by decomposition) are precisely those of the hydrochlorate of 

 apomorphia. It appears probable that the class of analogous bodies pro- 

 duced from other alkaloids by similar means, such as sulphonarcotide, may 

 possibly be the sulphates of new bases. We propose to submit these to ex- 

 periment, and to prosecute our researches on the opium bases. 



On sealing up codeia with hydrochloric acid and digesting it at 150°, we 

 find some permanent gas is evolved, probably chloride of methyl, in which 

 case the new base, if any, will be morphia or apomorphia or their isomers, 

 as codeia differs from morphia only by CH 2 . 



IV. " Researches into the Constitution of the Opium Bases. 

 Part II. — On the Action of Hydrochloric Acid on Codeia." By 

 Augustus Matthiessen, F.R.S., Lecturer on Chemistry in St. 

 Bartholomew's Hospital, and C. R. A. Wright, B.Sc Re- 

 ceived June 2, 1869. 



Codeia and morphia are, as is well known, homologous, only differing in 

 composition by CH 2 . Both of them contain one atom of hydrogen re- 

 placeable by organic radicals, from which it appears that methyl-morphia 



* 1845. Ann. der Chera und Pharni. vol. lv. p. 96. 

 t Ann. de Chimie et de Phys. [3] vol. xxiv. p. 112. 



