50 
NOTE  ON  PERSIAN  OPIUM. 
softer,  however,  and  perhaps  more  hjgrometric.  It  mixed  easily 
with  water  and  alcohol.  The  solution  blackened  with  potash, 
and  it  reduced  the  cupro-potassic  tartrate.  In  this  sample  the 
author  found  31-6  per  cent,  of  glucose.  The  results  of  an  an- 
alysis were  as  follows  :— 
Matters  soluble  in  water         .        .  84-20  per  cent. 
<^  alcohol       .        .  80-60  " 
All  1  •]  -so  A  r  naorphia  .  .  64 
Alkaloids   12-0  J  r:  n 
1  narcotine   .        .    5-o  " 
In  another  specimen  the  author  found  13-9  per  cent,  of  sugar. 
When  ammonia  was  added  to  a  solution  of  this  opium  a  very 
abundant  yellowish  white  gelatinous  precipitate  was  obtained ; 
absolute  alcohol  also  gave  a  floccular  precipitate.  Ordinary 
alcohol  almost  entirely  dissolved  this  sample,  giving  a  thick 
viscous  liquid,  which  when  pressed  through  a  cloth  left  but  a 
small  residue  :  on  filtration  through  paper  a  more  abundant  re- 
sidue was  obtained.  The  results  of  the  analysis  of  this  specimen 
were  as  follows  : — 
Matters  soluble  in  cold  water  .        .  76'5  per  cent. 
"  alcohol       .        .  93-7  " 
Alkaloids  16.15  I  "'"'■P':'"     •        •  It 
narcotme   .        ,  9-05. 
{ 
Another  sample  differed  essentially  from  the  foregoing.  It 
was  also  in  flattened  lumps,  but  enveloped  in  a  leaf  which  the 
author  could  not  identify.  He  also  remarked  some  fruits  of  a 
rumex  in  it.  In  color  and  smell  it  resembled  the  others  ;  but  it 
mixed  less  easily  with  alcohol  and  water.  The  solution  black- 
ened with  potash,  and  the  cupro-potassic  test  showed  the  pre- 
sence of  31-6  per  cent,  of  sugar.  Analysed  like  the  preceding 
the  following  results  were  obtained  : — 
Matter  soluble  in  water         .        .  79*20  per  cent, 
alcohol       .        .  75-60 
Alkaloids    15.0 /""'■P*':''    •        ■    f-^^  " 
I  narcotine  .        .    9-90  " 
All  these  opiums  appear  to  the  author  very  remarkable  for 
their  very  great  purity,  or  rather  for  the  almost  complete  absence 
of  foreign  matters  insoluble  in  alcohol  and  water.  But  their 
light  color,  and  the  relatively  very  large  proportion  of  narcotine 
