NOTE  ON  VIRGINIA  OPIUM. 
209 
NOTE  ON  VIRGINIA  OPIUM. 
By  the  Editor. 
About  the  middle  of  February  a  note  from  Mr.  William  A. 
Strother,  of  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  informed  us  that  he  had  sent 
by  express  a  vial  of  Tincture  of  Opium,  made  from  opium  raised 
in  that  vicinity  in  1864,  and  further  that  he  had  no  more  of  the 
opium  left,  the  residue  having  been  given  to  Mr.  Gellatly  of  N. 
Y.,  in  June,  1865. 
The  "  Laudanum,"  made  before  that  time,  consisted  of  half 
an  ounce  av.  of  the  opium  to  eight  fluid-ounces  of  diluted  alco- 
hol. Of  this  about  five  fluid-ounces  were  sent,  each  fluid-ounce 
representing  27*39  grains  of  the  opium. 
Mr.  Strother  desired  to  know  how  it  compared  with  lauda- 
num from  Turkey  opium,  as  persons  in  Virginia  were  inclined  to 
give  attention  to  opium  culture,  believing  the  climate  and  soil 
well  suited. 
In  a  second  note  on  the  subject,  Mr.  Strother  enclosed  a  let- 
ter received  from  Mr.  Powhatan  Robertson,  who  had  raised  the 
poppies  and  prepared  the  opium  from  which  the  laudanum  sent 
was  made. 
By  a  comparison  of  names,  dates,  etc.,  it  was  at  once  seen  that 
this  gentleman,  Mr.  Robertson,  was  the  same  noticed  in  Prof.  I.  J. 
Grahame's  article  on  American  Opium,  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Association,  for  1866,  and  copied  into  this  Journal,  (vol.  xxxix, 
p.  50, 1867,)  and  consequently  that  the  opium  of  the  tincture  sent 
to  me  by  Mr.  Strother  was  from  the  same  source  with  that 
examined  by  Prof.  Grahame.  The  process  adopted  by  Prof. 
Grahame  in  the  assay  (The  U.  S.  Pharm.  process  for  morphia,) 
not  being  suited  to  this  purpose  so  well  as  Mohr's,  it  was  deter- 
mined to  make  a  new  assay. 
Two  fluid-ounces  of  the  laudanum,  representing  54*75  grains, 
was  evaporated  to  free  it  from  alcohol,  diluted  to  three  fluid- 
ounces,  strained  and  boiled  with  milk  of  lime  from  an 
equal  weight  of  lime  for  fifteen  minutes,  filtered,  lixiviated  with 
hot  water,  acidulated  with  hydrochloric  acid,  evaporated  to 
half  a  fluid-ounce,  neutralized  with  ammonia,  filtered,  and  an 
excess  of  ammonia  added  and  allowed  to  stand  thirty-six  hours. 
14 
