AmAprli;wo2arm'}      Deodorized  Opium  and  Tincture.  161 
would,  by  the  addition  of  a  caustic  alkali,  be  again  thrown  out  of 
solution ;  and  in  the  paper  he  contributed  on  the  preparation  of 
deodorized  tincture  of  opium,  and  published  in  the  American  Jour- 
nal of  Pharmacy  for  May,  1867,  he  gave  the  following  directions: 
"  Take  of  common  caustic  potash  one  troy  ounce  ;  place  it  in  one 
pint  of  the  ethereal  solution,  having  previously  added  two  fluid 
ounces  of  water,  and  agitate;  let  stand,  and  when  separated  decant 
the  ether,  which  wash  by  shaking  with  distilled  water ;  allow  to 
separate  ;  decant  again  the  ether  and  keep  the  same  for  future  use 
in  the  manufacture  of  the  preparation."  There  was  no  other  loss 
than  a  certain  percentage  of  waste  of  ether  in  the  operation  of  puri- 
fication. 
On  examining  the  substance  that  had  separated  from  the  ethereal 
solution  by  the  addition  of  caustic  alkali,  the  writer  found  it  to 
consist  largely  of  gummy  and  resinous  substances,  which  were 
strongly  impregnated  with  the  peculiar  odor  of  opium.  On  treat- 
ing this  precipitated  mass  with  petroleum  benzin,  he  found  that 
nearly  all  was  taken  up  by  the  solvent,  excepting  some  dark  color- 
ing matter  and  a  crystalline  body  which,  on  further  examination, 
he  satisfied  himself  was  largely  composed  of  ?iarcotine.  This  feat- 
ure led  to  the  thought  that,  as  benzin  was  an  equally  good  solvent 
tor  what  was  considered  the  noxious  substances  and  did  not  dis- 
solve the  crystallizable  principles  of  the  opium,  it  was  superior  to 
ether  even  aside  from  its  economical  advantages. 
On  putting  the  above  to  a  test,  the  writer  satisfied  himself  that  his 
reasoning  was  in  a  practical  direction,  and,  after  some  experimenta- 
tion, a  formula  was  devised  for  preparing  deodorized  tincture  of 
opium  in  which  formula  petroleum  benzin  was  substituted  for  ether. 
Also,  a  formula  was  given  for  preparing  deodorized  opium,  petro- 
leum benzin  being  used  as  the  purifying  agent.  The  paper  also 
contained  the  suggestion  that  the  writer  believed  it  to  be  a  mis- 
take to  remove  the  narcotine  from  any  of  the  preparations  of  opium. 
In  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  for  February,  1883,  R. 
Rother  contributed  a  paper  on  a  new  process  of  preparing  deodor- 
ized tincture  of  opium,  the  process  being  based  on  the  use  of  a  mix- 
ture of  petrolatum  (vaseline)  and  spermaceti  for  removing  the  odor- 
ous and  resinous  matters  from  the  aqueous  solution  of  opium. 
In  the  August  number  of  the  same  publication  George  W.  Sloan 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  following  the  process  of  Mr. 
