190 
Acid  Morphine  Meconate. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
X      April,  1887. 
tend  decidedly  to  prove  the  non-existence  of  the  acid  salt.  They  are 
not,  however,  absolutely  conclusive,  as  the  acid  salt  may  exist,  and 
yet  be  decomposable  by  water.  If  from  a  mixture  possibly  contain* 
ing  acid  meconate  with  excess  of  meconic  acid,  a  particular  solvent 
should  remove  morphine  and  meconic  acid  in  the  proportion  to  form 
acid  meconate,  we  would  have  good  ground  for  believing  that  salt  to 
exist,  though  it  might  be  in  a  very  feeble  state  of  combination.  Un- 
fortunately we  know  of  no  solvent  which  dissolves  meconate  and 
which  does  not  at  the  same  time  dissolve  meconic  acid.  That  test, 
therefore,  cannot  be  applied.  What  reasons,  then,  have  we  for  as- 
suming that  acid  morphine  meconate  has  ever  been  formed  ?  Almost 
the  only  basis  for  this  belief  is  the  fact  referred  to  in  my  former  paper 
that  a  mixture  of  morphine  and  meconic  acid  in  molecular  proportions 
under  certain  circumstances  forms  an  amorphous  hygroscopic  mass. 
We  have,  therefore,  to  determine  whether  this  mass  possesses  any 
properties  which  cannot  be  explained  on  the  hypothesis  that  it  is  a 
mixture  of  the  normal  meconate  with  excess  of  acid.  To  elucidate 
that  question,  the  following  experiments  were  tried  : — 
(1)  .  Morphine  and  meconic  acid  in  molecular  proportions  were  dis- 
solved in  anhydrous  alcohol  with  the  aid  of  heat.  On  cooling,  an 
amorphous  mass  was  deposited. 
(2)  .  Morphine  and  meconic  acid  were  used  in  the  same  proportions, 
but  with  10  per  cent,  excess  of  acid,  were  similarly  dissolved,  with  the 
same  apparent  result,  no  crystals  of  meconic  acid  being  visible  in  the 
amorphous  deposit. 
(3)  .  Morphine  and  meconic  acid  in  proportions  to  form  the  neutral 
salt  were  dissolved  in  the  same  manner.  An  amorphous  mass  was 
likewise  deposited. 
According  to  the  general  law  in  such  cases,  this  amorphous  mecon- 
ate is  extremely  soluble,  but  it  quickly  combines  with  its  water  of 
hydration  and  then  crystallizes  out  as  neutral  6-hydrate  until  the  so- 
lution attains  its  normal  condition  of  saturation.  The  above  results, 
considered  with  those  stated  in  former  papers,  render  it  extremely 
doubtful  whether  the  acid  morphine  meconate  really  exists.  There 
is  certainly  no  sufficient  evidence  that  it  has  ever  been  prepared.  All 
references  therefore,  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  or  elsewhere,  to 
"  morphine  bimeconate  "  (C17H19N03C7H407)  must  be  taken  as  refer- 
ring to  a  purely  hypothetical  compound,  which  is  not  surely  known 
to  have  a  being. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Feb.  26,  1887,  p.  690. 
