368 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
acid with acetic acid, whereupon the moryhin- either schwefelsaur. 
crystallises out, while acetate of morphine and sulphate of potash 
remain dissolved. The precipitate is purified by crystallisation 
from hot water. In two successive experiments we obtained a very 
small yield of material. However, it was sparingly soluble, did 
not give the morphine colour-reactions, and gave a considerable 
precipitate when warmed with barium chloride and hydrochloric 
acid, so that we have no doubt the substance was practically the 
same thing as obtained by Stolnikow. According to that writer, 
the reactions which take place in the formation of the compound 
are as follows : — 
C l7 H 18 N0 2 H0 + KHO = C 17 H 18 H0 2 K0 + H 2 0 . 
C 17 H 18 N0 2 K0 + K 2 S 2 0 7 = C 17 H 18 H0 2 .K0.S0 3 + K 2 S0 4 . 
c 17 h 18 ho 2 .ko.o.so 2 +c 2 h 4 o 2 =c 17 h 18 no 2 .o.so 2 .oh + 
c 2 h 3 ko 2 . 
Physiological Action of Morphine-sulphuric Add. 
The only experiments on the action of this substance are those 
of Stolnikow. He attempts to prove that the characteristic action 
of morphine depends on the phenol-like hydroxyl group which 
it contains, and contends that when the H. of this hydroxyl 
is substituted by an alkyl radical another physiologically active 
element is introduced into the molecule. But if a physiologically 
inactive substance (such as he assumes HS0 3 to be) be introduced, 
then the action is very materially altered. 
He found in frogs that doses of 5 milligrammes of his compound 
were almost inert, but that after 3 to 5 times this dose tetanus 
occurred almost at once. He ranks it among the tetanising group 
of opium alkaloids. From his experiments Stolnikow concludes 
that with the hydroxyl group (OH) in morphine is bound up — (1) 
its narcotic properties, its property of acting specially and chiefly 
on the cerebrum ; (2) its poisonous properties. 
Although our experiments confirm Stolnikow’s to a certain extent, 
viz., that the activity of morphine is diminished by the substitution 
of HS0 3 for H., yet it is not diminished to anything like the extent 
which he states, nor is the hydroxyl group so important a constituent 
as he makes out. The new body retains the morphine action — a 
narcotic and tetanic stage — perfectly, although its toxicity is less 
