392 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
In reply to an inquiry, Mr. Martindale said there was but little loss of the 
carbolic acid by vaporization in making the plaster. The plaster might be kept 
for months without losing its pliable condition, or suffering any material dete¬ 
rioration in strength or quality. 
LIQUOR OPII SEDATIYUS. 
BY T. B. GROVES, F.C.S. 
The valuable paper of Messrs. Deane and Brady, “Microscopic Research in 
relation to Pharmacy,” read at the Pharmaceutical Conference Meeting at Bath, 
probably set many experimenting in the same direction ; amongst them, myself. 
On returning from Bath, I tried my hand on Liq. Opii Sed., but the results 
were not, I thought, worthy of publication. An additional fact or two having 
recently come under notice, I now offer a short resume of experiments made 
during the years 1864-65. 
Two fluid ounces of laudanum, mixed with four ounces of water, were evapo¬ 
rated to an ounce and a half, and set aside for a day. 
During the evaporation, and subsequently, it deposited a considerable amount 
of quasi-resinous matter. 
The filtered liquid, additioned with sp. vin. rect. ~ss, formed Liq. Opii Sed. 
No. 1. 
The resinoid precipitate, dissolved in sp. vin. rect. and acidulated with hydro¬ 
chloric acid, was mixed with water, then heated to expel sp. vin. rect., and, when 
cold, filtered. The filtrate, containing all the principles soluble in acidulated 
water, reacted as follows :—Perchloride of iron caused an intense red coloration, 
indicative of meconic acid; ammonia, a permanent precipitate completely 
soluble in ether. 
The ethereal solution, spontaneously evaporated, left a pale amorphous residue, 
that after treatment with sp. vin. rect., etc., gave an abundant crop of tufty and 
stellar crystals, with some polarizers of oblong figure. It seems clear, therefore, 
that proof spirit dissolves more meconic acid, narcotine, and narceine than does 
a similar bulk of pure water. 
Liquor No. 1, evaporated on a glass slip side by side with Battley’s, gave a 
microscopic figure very different from, and far inferior to it. 
Both liquors had an acid reaction with litmus paper. Two drachms of each 
of them and of laudanum were separately evaporated to dryness, and the resi¬ 
dues calcined under the same circumstances. 
1. Battley’s liquor gave. . . . *4 gr. 
2. No. 1.A trace. 
3. Laudanum.*05 gr. 
The ash of Battley’s liquor consisted of sulphate and carbonate of lime, and 
its washing water was neutral in reaction. The ash of the laudanum consisted 
of deliquescent carbonate of potash and a lime salt. 
Liquor No. 2 was made by boiling gently for half an hour two drachms of 
crude opium in two ounces of water, neutralizing the acidity of the decoction 
with milk of lime at the end of that time. The fluid, thrown on a filter, was 
washed up to fifteen drachms ; then five drachms of sp. vin. rect., and four 
drops of dilute sulphuric acid were added. The use of lime and sulphuric acid 
was indicated by the composition of the ash of Battley’s preparation. 
The liquor gave a good yield of microscopic crystals, but less numerous than 
was expected. Narcotine was not present. It was found also that the whole of 
