521 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December 30, 1871. 
coffee, tlie roots are washed, dried in the sun and cut 
up into small pieces, after which they are roasted in 
a similar manner to true coffee; they are then ground, 
and to every nine ounces of coffee one ounce of 
pounded dandelion-root may be added; these propor¬ 
tions make an excellent and useful beverage. The 
use of this coffee in India has been much recom¬ 
mended. 
Lieutenant Pegson, in a communication to the 
Agri-horticultural Society of India, advocating the 
more general cultivation and use of the dandelion, 
says, “ Medical men admit the value of this pre¬ 
paration, and I know several gentlemen in India 
who are, by their own admission, kept alive by the 
daily use of Taraxacum- coffee. It is fairly entitled 
to be called a specific for the cure of torpid liver, a 
complaint from which the majority of Europeans 
suffer; the fact being made known when they pro¬ 
ceed to a cool or hill climate and shiver and shake 
with cold while the thermometer is at 02° F. only. 
The sallow complexion of such men, women and 
children, their languid movements and their enjoy¬ 
ment of heat, all alike proclaim that they are suffer¬ 
ing from sluggish action of the liver. The conserve 
of Taraxacum may be made into syrup for use. 
Horses and valuable dogs, sheep and poultry, all 
suffer in India from disease of the liver. A bolus of 
Taraxacum conserve to a horse, and a pill thereof 
to a fowl, would be most beneficial and act as a cura¬ 
tive agent. Rabbits also suffer greatly from liver 
disease, but if they were supplied with a few (two 
to four) green Taraxacum leaves twice or thrice a 
week, the mortality resulting from this (hitherto) 
incurable disease would disappear, and rabbits could 
then be extensively raised for the market.” 
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. 
(Continuedfrom page 506.) 
3. Action of Sodium Carbonate on the Compound 
C 63 H S6 I 2 N 4 0 12 4HI. 
On adding sodium carbonate Lo tlie scarcely warm 
aqueous solution of this compound a voluminous white 
precipitate is produced, which is apparently a mixture 
of three bases, two of which contain iodine, whilst the 
third is free from that ingredient. The first one, which 
forms only a small fraction of the whole, is the free base 
of the original compound, C GS H 8G I 2 N 4 0 12 ; this is readily 
soluble in ether, and may he obtained as hydriodate (as 
previously stated) by digesting the precipitate with ether, 
and agitation of the extract with hydriodic acid, whereby 
the original substance is reproduced. To prevent froth¬ 
ing, the precipitate must he well drained from the aque¬ 
ous portion. By continuing the extraction until some 6 
litres of ether have been employed for exhausting the 
precipitate from 40 grms. of original substance, the whole 
of this base is removed, or nearly so. Attempts to pre¬ 
pare the base itself by evaporation of the ether yielded 
only a tarry substance which could not he removed from 
the vessel employed; treatment with water or alcohol 
more or less decomposes it. 
By employing a large hulk of ether after this first base 
has been almost wholly removed, an extract is obtained 
from which on evaporation solid flakes separate ; these 
are much less soluble in ether than the first base, and 
after drying at 100° gave the following numbers, indi¬ 
cating the formula C G8 H 81 IN 4 O 10 . 
0T985 grm. gave 0-4705 C0 2 and 0T19 ILO. 
0T210 grm. gave 0'2600 Agl. 
Calculated. 
Found. 
C G3 .... 
816 
II81 • • • • 
81 
I. 
127 
n 4 .... 
56 
O 10 .... 
160 
^63 Hsi I -^4 Oio 
1240 
65-81 
64-65 
6-53 
6-66 
10-24 
11-61 
4-52 
12-90 
lOO'OO 
Apparently these flakes still retained a trace of the first 
base; the mother-liquor from which they separated, when 
evaporated to dryness, left a small amount of residue 
containing 14-18 per cent, of iodine. Treated with hy¬ 
driodic acid, these flakes gave a hydriodate yielding 
these numbers after drying at 100°:— 
0-3675 grm. gave 0-6335 C0 2 and 0*181 ILO. 
0-371 grm. gave 0-2405 Agl. 
Calculated. 
j- 
Found. 
C G8 . 
816 
46-58 
47-00 
h 85 . 
85 
4-85 
5-47 
I 
■*5 * 
635 
36-24 
35-02 
n 4 . 
56 
3-20 
Oio • 
160 
913 
C cs H sl 
© 
o 
M 
4 HI 
1752 
100-00 
Evidently a slight loss of iodine has occurred from the 
action of the adhering moisture while drying, as the 
original flakes contained rather too high a percentage of 
iodine. This base is formed from the original one by the 
reaction— 
C c8 II S6 L N 4 0 12 ,4 HI = 2 H 2 0 + HI -f C 68 H S1 1N 4 O 10 ,4II I, 
identical with that taking place on treatment with water. 
A portion of the substance left after extraction with 
ether was treated several times successively with large 
hulks of ether (about 4 litres of ether to 10 grms. of pre¬ 
cipitate each extraction). After the majority of the 
substance had thus been dissolved, a portion of the last 
ether extracts was evaporated down and yielded flakes 
agreeing approximately with the composition required 
for a mixture of 1 molecule of C G8 II 81 IN 4 O 10 , and 2 mole¬ 
cules of C 68 H s0 N 4 O 10 . 
0-3565 grm. gave 0 - 926 C0 2 and 0-237 H 2 0. 
0-376 grm. 0-255 Agl. 
0-2455 grm. gave 0-170 Agl. 
C 
H 
I 
Calculated. 
. 70-67 
. 6-96 
. 3-67 
Found. 
70-84 
7-39 
3-66 3-73 
From the foregoing experiments it is clear that the 
action of sodium carbonate on the compound 
C 68 H 86 I 2 N 4 0 12 ,4HI 
is identical with that of water described in (2), the two 
bases, C G8 H 81 IN 4 O 10 and C 68 H 80 N 4 O 10 , being the prin¬ 
cipal products. 
On precipitating in a similar way the compound 
^C8-^S2^2^4^10> I HI, 
the same reaction appears to take place ; from the pre¬ 
cipitate ether extracts only traces at first, indicating 
probably that the base C G8 H 8 oI 2 N 4 O 10 is not produced 
in any quantity; as apparently the more highly iodized 
bases are more soluble in ether. 
On treating the compound C G8 H S2 I 2 N 4 0 G ,4HI in the 
* Read before the Royal Society, November 16, 1871. 
