December 23,3871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
505 
22 fluid ounces, which will correspond with the acid, 
phosph. dil. of the B. P. 
Syrup of the Phosphates (Parrish’s Chemical Food).— 
This preparation, as sent out by the original maker, 
varies considerably in appearance, sometimes being of a 
bright crimson, sometimes of a dark mahogany colour; 
but he having published his formula, cannot, of course, 
retain it as private property, and the preparation is now 
largely made, both by wholesale and retail houses, and 
more uniformity appears to exist in consequence. 
The operation is comparatively simple, and yet occa¬ 
sional difficulties present themselves, either in getting 
the whole of the phosphates dissolved without an excess 
of acid, in getting the whole of the sugar dissolved with¬ 
out its settling as a gummy, tenacious and partly in¬ 
soluble mass, or in preventing a deposit of some of the 
phosphates when completed. (Parrish’s own make fre¬ 
quently contains a deposit.) 1 manipulate as follows:— 
First dissolve the glacial acid in a very small quantity of 
distilled water, precipitate the phosphates of iron and 
lime, taking care with the latter not to add ammonia in 
excess, and slightly acidulating the water used in wash¬ 
ing with hydrochloric acid ; with a small quantity of 
the concentrated solution of phosphoric acid neutralize 
the potash and soda, and in the remainder dissolve the 
above precipitates—mix and measure; the quantity of 
water -which it -would be necessary to add to make up 
the required bulk of fluid, wall be found sufficient to 
form separately, with the sugar, a thick syrup ; slightly 
acidulate this with a few drops of hydrochloric acid, add 
the cochineal, and into it filter the solution of the phos¬ 
phates, add the orange-flower water, strain through 
flannel, and the whole is completed. This syrup has a 
beautiful crimson colour, is always uniform in appear¬ 
ance and taste, keeps well, and is essentially in every par¬ 
ticular syr. ferri phosph. co. (Parrish’s)—or Parrish’s 
Chemical Food. 
(To be continued.') 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF THE 
OPIUM ALKALOIDS.* 
BY C. It. A. WRIGHT, D.SC. 
Lecturer on Chemistry in St. Mary’s Hospital Medical 
School. 
Part III. 
[Continued from page 486.) 
2. Action of Water on the foregoing Compounds. 
When either of the two first compounds just described 
is dissolved in a large bulk of hot water, and the solution 
allowed to cool, solid white flakes are obtained contain¬ 
ing more C and II, and less I, than the original sub¬ 
stance. By repeating this treatment several times suc¬ 
cessively, the same ultimate compound appears to be 
produced in each case, being apparently formed by the 
reactions— 
C GS H 86 I 2 N 4 0 12 , 4HI = 2HI + 2H 2 0 
J^-80-^4^105 4 HI. 
^68-^82l2^4^io>4HI = 2 HI + C 69 H 80 N 4 O 10 , 4HI. 
The removal of the last traces of basic HI is very dif¬ 
ficult ; it may be accelerated by adding a few drops of 
sodium carbonate to the boiling solution and filtering 
hot from the small amount of precipitated base ; the pro¬ 
duct is apt, however, to be more strongly yellow-coloured 
when obtained in this ivay than when got by treatment 
with water alone. 
Specimen A. Got from compound C G 8 H S 2 I 2 N 4 O 10 , 4HI 
by water and a little sodium carbonate :— 
0-366 grm. gave 0-672 C0 2 and 0-177 II 2 0. 
0-406 grm. gave 0-227 Agl. 
* Read before the Royal Society, November 16,1871. 
Specimen B. From same compound by water alone:— 
0-369 grm. gave 0-674 C0 2 and 0*174 H 2 0. 
0-4555 grm. gave 0-2675 Agl. 
Specimen C. From compound CggH^Lh^Ojo, 4 HI by 
water alone:— 
0-4265 grm. gave 0-762 C0 2 and 0-220 II 2 0. 
0-3845 grm. gave 0-2275 Agl. 
Found. 
• 
Calculated. 
/—— 
— 
\ 
Mean. 
C 68 . . . 
^- 
--\ 
A. 
B. 
c. 
. . 816 
50-25 
50-08 
49-81 
48-73 
49-54 
H S 4 • • 
. . 84 
5-17 
5-36 
5-24 
5-73 
5-41 
n 4 . . 
. . 56 
3-45 
— 
— 
_ 
O ]0 . . 
. . 160 
9-85 
— 
— 
<.— 
— 
I 4 . . . 
. . 508 
31-28 
30-21 
31-74 
31-98 
31-31 
1624 
100-00 
^c>s-^so^4^io> 4HI. 
Specimen A, dissolved in hot water and precipitated 
by sodium carbonate, yielded a yellowish-white sub¬ 
stance, rapidly becoming darker, and finally almost 
black. Dried rapidly at 100°:— 
0-370 grm. gave 0-930 CO and 0-235 H 2 0. 
About 0"5 grm. examined qualitatively for iodine gave 
only traces of Agl. 
Calculated. 
Found. 
Cf)S ♦ • 
... 816 68-46 
68-55 
H 8 0 • 
... 80 6-71 
7-05 
N 4 .56 
0 15 .240 
4-70 
20-13 
^68^180 -N 4 O 10 + 0 5 1192 
100-00 
From these numbers it appears that the free base, like 
bromo- and chloro-tetra-codeia, rapidly absorbs oxygen 
from the air. 
Probably there exists a compound intermediate be¬ 
tween the hydriodate just described and the original 
body— 
C 68 H 82 I 2 N 4 O 10 ,4HI; 
thus one batch of flakes got by two treatments with 
water of this original substance gave the following num¬ 
bers after drying at 100 °:— 
0-3225 grm. gave 0-556 C0 2 and 0-153 H 2 0.' 
0-3205 grm. gave 0-212 Agl. 
Another specimen obtained similarly :— 
0-4175 grm. gave 0"269 Agl. 
Calculated. Found. 
c 63 
.816 
46‘58 
47-2 
— 
h 85 
.85 
4-85 
5-27 
— 
I 
As • 
.635 
36-24 
35*7 0 
34-82 
n 4 ... 
. . 56 
3-20 
O 10 • • • 
. . 160 
9-13 
^68^31-^4^10) 
4 HI 1752 
100-00 
It is not impossible that this substance is not a definite 
compound, but only a mixture; nevertheless, a free base 
of this composition and its hydriodate have been obtained 
by the action of sodium carbonate on the compound, 
C 6 S H 86 I 2 N 4 0 12 ,4HI; 
from whence it appears probable that the body analysed 
is reallydefinite compound, formed by the reaction, 
C 63 H s J 2 N 1 O 10 ,4HI = HI + C 63 H s 1 IN 4 0 1 o,4HI. 
Both the final and intermediate products have a very 
curious structure under the microscope; although they 
simulate in a high degree the appearance of crystals as 
they separate from a hot aqueous solution, yet on micro¬ 
scopic examination they are found to consist of stiings 
