AmMayr;i897arm'}      Starch  and  Strontium  in  Opium. 
247 
of  minor  importance,  so  long  as  it  is  only  required  of  opium  to  con- 
tain a  certain  amount  of  morphine.  Substances  that  do  increase 
the  yield  of  morphine  are  the  ones  that  annoy  the  analyst. 
About  a  year  ago1  one  of  us  (K.)  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  amount  of  impurity  associated  with  the  crystallized  morphine, 
as  obtained  by  the  U.S.P.  process,  was  abnormally  great.  The 
situation  has  not  changed  for  the  better,  at  this  writing.  During  the 
past  few  months  some  of  the  opium  assayed,  yielded  unusually  high 
results.  The  perplexing  part  in  some  cases  was  the  fact  that  one 
duplicate  contained  a  much  larger  amount  of  impurity  associated 
with  the  morphine  than  that  of  the  other  duplicate.  The  amount 
of  impurity  was  estimated  by  the  ash  method.  This,  of  course, 
indicated  that  some  inorganic  substance  or  substances  were  influenc- 
Fig.  4.    Crystals  from  alcohol-ether  precipitate,  magnified  500  diameters. 
ing  the  results.  The  ash  was  repeatedly  examined,  and  in  every 
case  strontium  was  indicated. 
It  has  frequently  been  observed,  and  commented  on,2  that  when 
the  10  grammes  of  alcohol  are  added  to  the  20  grammes  of  opium 
extractive,  a  turbidity  frequently  results.  We  now  extracted  40 
grammes  of  opium,  preparatory  to  making  a  40  gramme,  instead  of 
the  usual  iO-gramme,  assay.  The  customary  proportions  of  alcohol 
and  ether  were  added  and  the  assay  allowed  to  stand  over  night.  In 
the  morning,  it  was  found  that  1-6  per  cent,  of  material  had  precipi- 
tated out.  On  igniting  this  precipitate,  19  3  per  cent,  was  volatil- 
ized.    The  residue  consisted  of  strontium,  Fig.  4,  calcium  and 
1  1896,  Am.  J.  Pharm.,  68,  257. 
2  1895,/.  Soc.  Chem.  Ind,,  14,  464. 
