410 
Convei'.sion  of  Morphine  into  Codeine. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t     August,  1882. 
following  Schaclit's  directions,  and  arrived  at  the  following  con- 
clusions : 
1.  Benzoic  acid,  sublimed  from  benzoin,  exerts  a  striking  reducing 
action,  both  in  acid  and  alkaline  solution,  upon  permanganate  solu- 
tion, not  shared  by  benzoic  acid  of  other  modes  of  preparation,  or  only 
in  a  limited  degree.  The  non-officinal  benzoic  acids  give,  in  alkaline 
solution,  at  first  a  green  color. 
2.  Benzoic  acid,  prepared  from  benzoin  with  lime,  behaves  like  the 
artificial  acid,  and  resembles  the  sublimed  acid  in  its  reducing  action 
only  if  prepared  from  the  residues  of  sublimation  or  from  benzoin  con- 
taining cinnamic  acid. 
3.  The  acid  prepared  from  benzoin  with  lime  does  not,  by  subse- 
quent sublimation,  acquire  the  reducing  action  of  genuine  flowers  of 
benzoin. 
4.  Non-officinal  benzoic  acids  acquire,  by  sublimation  with  benzoin, 
the  reducing  action  upon  permanganate ;  but  even  with  an  addition  of 
20  per  cent,  of  benzoin  befoi'e  the  sublimation,  the  action  is  by  far  less 
pronounced  than  that  of  the  officinal  acid. 
5.  Cinnamic  acid  possesses  an  energetic  reducing  action  in  acid  and 
alkaline  solution,  and  in  mixtures  with  non-officinal  benzoic  acids 
modifies  the  behavior  of  the  latter. 
6.  Benzoic  acid,  which  does  not  reduce  permanganate  in  acid  solu- 
tion, and  causes  with  it  a  green  color  in  alkaline  solution,  does  not 
acquire  the  property  of  instantaneously  reducing  the  permanganate, 
even  when  mixed  with  10  per  cent,  of  cinnamic  acid;  the  recluction 
takes  place  only  after  several  minutes. — Archiv  d.  Phar.,  June,  1882, 
pp.  425-430. 
THE  CONVERSION  OF  MORPHIA  INTO  CODEIA. 
By  D.  B.  Dott,  F.R.S.E. 
The  first  chemist  to  announce  the  conversion  of  morphia  into 
codeia  was  E.  Grimaux,  whose  experiments  are  described  in  "  Comptes 
Rendus'' (see  Am.  Jour.  Phar.,''  1881,  p.  466).  Reference  must 
also  be  made  to  the  communication  of  O.  Hesse  to  the  "  Pharmaceuti- 
cal Journal"  ([3],  xii,  157),  on  the  Methyl  Ether  of  Morphia." 
The  former  of  these  chemists,  by  acting  on  morphia  dissolved  in  alco- 
holic solution  of  soda  with  iodide  of  methyl,  in  molecular  proportions, 
obtained  a  crystalline  alkaloid  which  resembled  codeia  in  all  its  prop- 
erties, with  the  apparent  exception  of  possessing  a  slightly  difPei-ent 
