RESEARCHES ON NARCOTINE, ETC. 
141 
which can be replaced by other copulas,, as sulphuretted 
hydrogen and sulphurous acid. Opiammon must then be 
considered as belonging to this series; it is a conjugated 
combination of 2 atoms of opianic acid, 2 x (C 20 H 6 O 7 ,) 
with 1 equiv. ammonia and 2 equiv. water, i. e. a combi- 
nation of 1 atom of opianic acid with water for copula, and 
1 atom of opianic acid with ammonia for copula. This 
view will be rendered intelligible by the folio wing formulas. 
The excluded atom of water is that which is replaceable 
by bases: — 
Opianic acid = HO + (C 20 H 6 O 7 + 2HO.) 
Opianosulphurous acid = HO + (C 20 H 6 O 7 + 2S0 2 .) 
Sulphopianic acid = HO + (C 20 H 6 O 7 + 2HS.) 
Opiammon = (C 20 H 6 O 7 4- 2H0) + (C 20 H 6 O 6 -f 
NH^.) 
The latter might also be regarded as biopianate of am- 
monia = (NH 4 + C 20 H 6 O 7 ) + (HO 4- C 20 H 6 O 7 .) 
But it certainly is not a salt. 
If this latter view is correct, it becomes highly probable 
that narcotine itself likewise belongs to this series, and is a 
body of analogous composition to opiammon, in which 
opianic acid may be admitted as pre-existing in the above 
sense. 
The melted and insoluble opianic acid is probably a 
totally different body, but isomeric with the crystallized 
opianic acid, and has probably originated from the opianic 
acid having assimilated the elements of the 2 atoms of 
water under the influence of heat. If it consists of two 
bodies, as the microscopic examination tends to show, these 
together possess, as the analysis indicates, the composition 
of the crystallized opianic acid. 
(To be continued*) 
VOL. X. — NO. II, 13 
