ON  THE  MORPHIA  SALTS  OF  COMMERCE. 
67 
unfit  for  pharmaceutical  uses.  The  olfactory  nerves  of  that  man 
must  indeed  be  torpid,  who  fails  to  discover  a  wide  difference 
between  Price's  and  the  cheaper  glycerines.  Should  odor,  how- 
ever, not  be  sufficient  proof,  let  a  little  solution  of  nitrate  of 
silver  be  added  to  the  specimen  in  a  test  tube  and  exposed  to  the 
light ;  Price's  will  be  found  to  remain  nearly  colorless,  whilst 
the  inferior  samples  will  rapidly  become  dark-colored.  When 
we  are  able  to  obtain  Price's  glycerine,  or  glycerine  equal  to  it 
in  every  respect,  at  Is.  6d.  per  pound,  I  have  no  doubt  but  it 
will  find  many  applications  in  pharmacy  from  which  it  is  now 
debarred  by  its  great  cost. — London  Pharm.  Jour.,  Nov.,  1864. 
ON  THE  MORPHIA  SALTS  OF  COMMERCE, 
By  W.  E.  Heathfield,  F.  R.  G.  S. 
(Read  at  the  Bath  Meeting  of  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference,  Sept..,  1864.) 
Amongst  the  many  vegetable  products  from  which  are  ob- 
tained the  alkaloidal  bodies,  there  are  none,  as  at  present  known, 
of  so  complex  a  character  as  opium  ;  none  which  yield  so  large- 
ly their  crystalline  formations,  and  none  which  afford  so  many 
substances,  each  presenting  a  different  feature  and  a  different 
habit. 
Of  these  substances,  amounting  to  about  eleven,  six  have  been 
carefully  analysed,  and  the  verifications  of  the  results  by  Pro- 
fessor Anderson,  of  Glasgow,  together  with  the  experimental 
performances  upon  some  of  them  by  Mr.  How,  have  contribu- 
ted much  to  render  this  part  of  the  subject  complete.  The  sub- 
joined list  indicates  the  six  bodies  to  which  I  refer,  and  the  com- 
position of  each - 
Morphia    .....    C34H19N06  +  2  aq. 
Codeia     .    .    .    •    .    C36H21N06  " 
Thebaina  C38H21N06  « 
Papaverina  ....  C40H21NO8  « 
Narcotina  .    .    .    .    •    C46H25N014  " 
Narcein  C46H29N018  « 
And  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  two  first-named,  i.  e,  morphia 
and  codeia,  differ  from  each  other  exactly  by  C2  H2,  and  it  sug- 
gested itself  to  Mr.  How  (whose  experiments  were  tried  in  the 
year  1853,  as  detailed  in  the  <  Journal  of  the  Chemical  Society,' 
