PHARMACEUTICAL NOTICES. 
19 
time to give the benefit of the colour to the alcohol, which 
it takes from the finely diffused extractive; — lastly, filter 
through paper. In the process here employed we have a 
solution containing the whole of the meconate of morphia 
and codeia, whilst the narcotina, resin, caoutchouc and 
ligneous matters are left behind. 
The principle of displacement applied to opium has been 
very properly objected to, in the apprehension that care- 
lessness or want of skill in conducting the percolations 
might occasion great disparity, in the results; yet in ex- 
perienced hands, and managed with the proper care, the 
witness can perceive the beauty and efficiency of the prin- 
ciple, in enabling the operator to exhaust the marc of 
opium, not only of colour, but of odour and taste. 
Chemical authority might be given here for the statement 
that the narcotina is wholly separated by these means; but 
as others equally good speak of a portion being taken up 
by the meconic acid in union with the morphia, I made an 
experiment to test the fact. 
Four ounces of laudanum, thus prepared, were evaporated 
to dryness, and the gummy extract then digested in ether 
at S0° F. for twenty-four hours, during which time it was 
occasionally raised to the point of ebullition; the ether, 
which underwent no change in colour, was then decanted 
and suffered to evaporate ; ere this was wholly accomplished, 
a slight crystalline deposite was observed upon the side of 
the vessel, and by the action of nitric acid and sesqui- 
chloride of iron, proved to be narcotine, mixed, however, 
with resinous matter. The weight of both was a little more 
than one-third of a grain. 
Having on hand some aqueous extract of opium, pre- 
pared by an eminent house of this city, I essayed 150 grs. 
in the same manner, but without obtaining the least evi- 
dence of narcotina. The ether became colored yellow, and 
after evaporation left a dark viscous extract with traces of 
a fixed oil. This may have been prepared from opium 
