ELECTRICAL RESISTANCES OF FIXED AND VOLATILE OILS. 177 
No. 1 specimen contained 0-3 per cent, of morphia. 
n 
n 
11 
11 
11 
11 
11 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
> i 
ii 
ii 
it 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
n 
ii 
ii 
n 
ii 
0-5 
0-6 
0-5 
0-2 
0-5 
0-4 
0-7 
0*5 
n 
ii 
>i 
ii 
ii 
v 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
ii 
Good commercial opium, such as is commonly found in the English market (as 
our analysis last year showed), contains frequently as much as 10 to 13 per 
cent, of morphia; and the Pharmacopoeia, laying no restriction upon a maximum 
yield of morphia, opens a wide door for a great diversity in the strength of its 
opium preparations, so that a tincture yielding from | to 1 per cent, of morphia 
is within the Pharmacopoeia limits. 
The letter which was lately addressed to the Pharmaceutical Journal by Mr. 
J. T. Miller, of Sheffield, on the value of the British Pharmacopoeia tests for 
opium, is well w r orth perusal. 
Although liq. opii sedativus is not officinal, yet this form of administering 
opium is scarcely less important than the tincture. It is, however, interesting 
to notice in the analysis of the eight following samples, that the same wide di¬ 
versity exists:— 
No. 1 
specimen 
contains 0-6 per 
cent, of morphia. 
„ 2 
ii 
ii 
1-2 
ii 
ii 
„ 3 
ii 
ii 
0-7 
ii 
n 
4 
ii 
ii 
1-0 
ii 
ii 
„ 5 
a 
ii 
0-5 
ii 
ii 
„ 6 
ii 
ii 
0-8 
n 
ii 
„ 7 
ii 
ii 
1-5 
ii 
ii 
„ 8 
ii 
ii 
1-1 
ii 
ii 
Mr. IIeathfield remarked that there was no standard for the strength of liquor opii 
sedativus, since its inventor had at different times made statements which were incon¬ 
sistent with one another. 
Mr. Savage wished to know how a chemist could tell what opium he might use. 
Professor Attfield replied that he should demand an analysis from the seller. The 
necessity for this had been established by the full proof that physical appearances would 
not indicate the strength of the drug. 
Mr. Brady thought that by drying and powdering the opium the most serious 
sources of discrepancy were eliminated. 
Mr. Young advocated the introduction of an opium with a standard percentage of 
morphia into the national Pharmacopoeia. 
Mr. Baildon thought that the remedy lay in the substitution of its principal alkaloid, 
morphia, for a drug of such uncertain strength as opium. 
Professor Barford agreed with the last speaker; and, as a member of the medical 
profession, he could state that the leading physicians of this country employed morphia 
almost exclusively for either internal administration or for subcutaneous injection. As 
a matter of economy, there could be no objection to the continuance of tincture of 
opium as an addition to liniments or other external applications. 
ON THE ELECTRICAL RESISTANCES OF THE FIXED AND 
VOLATILE OILS. 
BY T. T. P. BRUCE WARREN. 
The want of an acknowledged and trustworthy means of recognizing the purity 
or condition of samples of oils has long been felt by pharmaceutists. No tests 
VOL. IX. N 
