NOTE  ON  PERSIAN  OPIUM. 
49 
whicli  it  ought  to  occupy  in  therapeutics,  as  well  as  the  uses 
which  may  be  made  of  it  in  pharmacy. 
Persian  opium  is  imported  in  the  form  of  thin  cylindrical 
sticks  four  or  five  inches  long,  which  sometimes  become  flattened 
by  pressure  one  against  the  other.  Each  stick  is  wrapped  in 
white  or  rose-colored  paper,  and  tied  with  cotton.  The  weight 
of  each  stick  is  about  fifteen  grammes.  Guibourt  has  remarked 
that  the  paste,  although  apparently  homogeneous,  is  seen  when 
cut  into  to  be  made  up  of  small  lumps  agglutinated  together,  the 
lumps  being  much  smaller  than  those  seen  in  Smyrna  opium.  It 
is  of  a  reddish-brown  or  liver  color,  has  a  strong  smell,  a  very 
bitter  taste,  is  slightly  hygrometric,  and  is  very  soluble  both  in 
water  and  alcohol.  One  sample  (in  sticks),  analysed  by  the 
author,  yielded  the  following  results: — 
Matters  soluble  in  water         .        .  82-60  per  cent. 
alcohol       .        .  81-60  <i 
Alkaloids  12.30/ "^'■P^:'*     "       "    f]l  " 
narcotine    .        .    4.15  " 
The  aqueous  solution  of  this  opium  treated  with  anhydrous 
alcohol  gave  a  flocculent  precipitate.  When  treated  with  the 
tartrate  of  potash  and  copper  the  cupric  salt  was  reduced,  prov- 
ing the  presence  of  sugar,  a  fact  which  was  confirmed  by  the  fer- 
mentation test.  Estimated  by  a  standard  cupro-potassic  solution, 
it  was  found  that  the  sample  contained  15  per  cent,  of  glucose. 
The  author  has  never  detected  sugar  in  Constantinople  opium, 
but  has  sometimes  discovered  notable  quantities  in  that  imported 
from  Smyrna.  The  presence  of  this  body  appears  to  him  an  in- 
dication of  falsification,  for  he  has  never  found  any  in  the  opium 
made  in  France. 
Another  sample  of  Persian  opium  received  by  the  author  pre- 
sented quite  a  difi'erenfc  form.  It  was  in  the  shape  of  flattened 
ovoid  lumps  without  envelope  either  of  paper  of  poppy  leaves, 
nor  did  it  contain  any  seeds  of  the  rumex  such  as  is  seen  in 
Smyrna  opium.f  The  physical  characters,  apart  from  the  form, 
closely  resembled  those  of  the  preceding.    It  was  somewhat 
fWe  have  received  Persian  opium  in  this  form  from  Mr.  Maltass  of 
Smyrna,  who  informs  us  that  the  opium  is  never  imported  in  this  state. 
The  cylindrical  sticks  are  made  into  lumps  of  this  shape  in  France. — Ed. 
Chem.  News. 
4 
