114 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[August 5,1871. 
A further reaction then takes place, and the ehloro- 
codide splits up into methyl chloride and apomorphia. 
C 18 E :o N0 2 = CII 3 C1 + c 17 h 17 no 2 . 
Cliiorocodicle. Methyl Chloride. Apomorphia. 
So that the curious fact appeared that codeia only dif¬ 
fered from morphia by containing; one equivalent more 
of methyl. Although, however, they obtained apomor¬ 
phia from codeia, they were unable to reconvert apo- 
..morphia into morphia, and thus form morphia directly 
from codeia. 
Dr. Hugo Schiff, of Florence, has announced that he 
has succeeded in artificially producing conia, the active 
principle in Conium maculatam. He says that when 
sbutyraldehyd is acted upon by alcoholic ammonia, di- 
butyraldin is formed. 
(2 C 4 H s O) + NH 3 - H.0 = C a H 17 NO. 
Butyraldehyd. Dibutyraldin. 
By the dry distillation of the latter, conia, among other 
products, is eliminated, and may at once be recognized 
-hy its peculiar odour. 
C s H 17 NO = C 8 H ]5 N + ILjO. 
Dibutyraldiu. Conia. 
Mr. D. Howard has described a new cinchona alkaloid, 
which he detected by noticing an unusual loss when re- 
crystallizing quinia. The new base is still under inves¬ 
tigation, but seems to be nearly related to quinia, for its 
■oxalate only differs by containing three more molecules 
of water. Chlorine and ammonia also produce the green 
■colour and precipitate of dalleiochin, which is character¬ 
istic of quinia and quinidin. It differs, however, b}q the 
.solution not being fluorescent. 
Chloral hydrate appears now to have become a recog¬ 
nized addition to our materia medica as a good hypnotic. 
It may, however, be well to note that a comparatively 
large number of deaths have occurred from its use during 
the past year. In every case the fatal result has arisen 
from one of two causes,—cither from an overdose, or 
else by the dose having been repeated too frequently, 
one having been swallowed before the effect of the pre¬ 
vious one had passed away. A very remarkable in¬ 
stance of the latter recently came under my notice, and 
has been fully described by Dr. Norris in the Lancet 
(Feb. 28th, 1871). The deceased had taken 712 grains 
an nine days, 260 of which had been swallowed within 
36 hours. Every part of the organs sent for analysis 
was preserved in the most extraordinary manner. 
Not until 130 hours after death did the slightest odour 
of decomposition become perceptible. Chloroform was 
obtained plentifully from the tissues by distillation, after 
the addition of an alkali. 
Professor Wurtz has stated to the French Academy of 
Sciences, that the nitrate of strychnia, used hypodermi¬ 
cally, is an antidote to the poisonous effects of chloral. 
I have not, however, seen a confirmation of this strange 
announcement. 
In the Ann. der Chem. und Lharm. 1870, Mr. Lieber 
■describes a very convenient method of detecting the pre¬ 
sence of alcohol in chloroform or chloral hydrate. He 
effects this by warming the suspected sample in a test- 
tube with a little iodized potassium iodide, and afterwards 
potassium hydrate. If alcohol be present, crystals of 
iodoform will be deposited. 
Ana3sthetic agents are still the subjects of much dis¬ 
cussion. Bichloride of methylene and nitrous oxide have 
•been tried over and over again by their respective ad¬ 
mirers, but the weight of evidence seems to be in favour of 
Jhe latter. The bichloride has too frequently induced 
nausea, a most distressing accompaniment to its adminis- 
^x’ation, while the nitrous oxide appears to give almost 
universal satisfaction. Not one fatal accident has hap¬ 
pened, although, within the last twelve months, it has 
been in daily use by dentists. 
At a late meeting of the Medical Society in London, 
Dr. Richardson introduced metachloral, a singular iso¬ 
mer of chloral, and decomposable also by alkalies into 
chloroform and formic acid, but physically differing by 
being completely insoluble in either water, alcohol, or 
ether. It is a white greasy powder, which may be recon¬ 
verted into soluble chloral by being heated to 180° C. 
One of our esteemed corresponding members, Dr. 
Fliickigcr, has noticed an interesting property of oil of 
peppermint. When shaken with nitric acid, the oil ex¬ 
hibits a magnificent greenish-blue fluorescence. This 
hitherto undescribod phenomenon is extremely beautiful, 
especially when the electric spark is passed through it 
by means of the ordinary vacuum tube. The doctor re¬ 
marks that, unfortunately, it is not a true test for the 
purity of the oil of peppermint, because other oils may 
be present without preventing the fluorescent appear¬ 
ance. 
In a lengthy paper read at the Chemical Society, and 
reprinted in our Journal, Dr. Divers has made an im¬ 
portant addition to our hitherto imperfect knowledge of 
ammonium carbonate. It appears that there are four 
varieties of this salt, having a simple relation to each 
othei’, and capable of crystallization from a solution, 
viz.:— 
Normal Ammonium Carbonate, 
Half-acid ,, 
Acid ,, 
Hyper-acid ,, 
(C 0 2 ) 2 (H 2 0) 4 (N H 3 ) 
(C0 2 ) 3 (H 2 0) 4 (NH 3 ) 
(C0 2 ) 4 (H 2 0) 4 (NH 3 ) 
(C0 2 ) s (H 2 0) 4 (NH 3 ) 
4 
4 
4 
'4 
Dr. Davies finds that by digesting these carbonates at 
a gentle heat with liq. ammon. fort., they become con¬ 
verted into ammonium carbamate (NH 4 NH.,CO,j), thus 
furnishing a curious example of the dehydration of a 
salt in the presence of water. He agrees with Dr. Att- 
field, that the commercial ammonium carbonate is a 
compound salt of carbonic and carbamic acids, and is re¬ 
markably constant in its composition. Dr. Divers also 
states that, when ammonium chloride and calcium car¬ 
bonate are heated together, as directed in the British 
Pharmacopoeia, the product is not commercial ammonium 
carbonate. This is an after product during the refining. 
New localities have been successfully tested for the 
cultivation of the poppy and cinchona plants. At the 
January meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society, a paper 
by Mr. Ward was read on a sample of Australian opium, 
collected in Gipps’ Land, and sent to Mr. Hills for 
examination. It contained no less than 9 per cent, of 
morphia, so that the Australian climate may eventually 
prove favourable to the growth of the poppy plant. 
In America, also, the production of opium has been 
tided as a profitable speculation. Mr. Wilson, of Ver¬ 
mont, has sown 6j aci’es of land with opium poppy-seed. 
From the resulting crop were gathered 640 pounds of 
opium, averaging 6-25 per cent, of morphia and realizing 
10 dollars per pound. 
In Ceylon the cultivation of the cinchona has attracted 
considerable attention. The analysis of a sample sent to 
England showed that each poxmd of the bark yielded 
289 grains of sulphate of quinia, 47 grains of quinidine 
and 14 grains of cinchonine. 
Last year, at the Liverpool meeting, Dr. C. Calvert 
called attention to some experiments he had been making 
on the composition of iron-rust. In our text-books the 
rust of iron is described as the hydrated peroxide of 
iron, with a trace of ammonia. The results of his ana¬ 
lyses show, however, that rusted iron is a complicated 
compound of 93 per cent, of peroxide, 6 of protoxide, 
per cent, of carbonate of iron, 1^ per cent, of silica, 
with a trace only of ammonia. Dr. Calvert finds that 
the idea of iron rusting fi*om the presence of moist 
oxygen is entirely wi’ong. A long series of experiments 
proved that neither moist oxygen nor moist or diy car¬ 
bonic acid, separately , had any action on iron, but that 
a mixture of both acted very energetically. Carbonic 
acid is the agent that determines and promotes the oxi¬ 
dation of iron, and not oxygen or aqueous vapour. This 
