160  Well  Known  Synthetic  Chemicals.      { Am-/S  S7arm- 
large  and  the  price,  therefore,  somewhat  more  reasonable,  some 
Persian  opium  finds  its  way  into  the  London  markets  and  through 
this  channel  often  to  America.  It  is  usually  found  in  hard  blocks, 
brittle  and  free  from  leaves  without  any  rumex  chaff.  Each  separate 
block  is  wrapped  in  paper,  generally  red,  though  sometimes  yellow. 
It  is  very  high  in  morphine,  smooth,  running  from  12  to  14  per  cent. 
EGYPTIAN  OPIUM. 
Egyptian  opium  is  only  produced  in  small  quantity,  though  occa- 
sionally a  few  cases  appear  in  the  London  markets.  It  is  very  low 
in  morphine  content,  assaying  only  from  6  to  7  per  cent.,  and  is  of 
a  dark  color. 
INDIA  OPIUM. 
India  opium  is  marketed  almost  entirely  in  China  and  is  never 
seen  in  Western  markets.  It  also  contains  a  very  small  amount  of 
morphine  and  is  said  to  assay  only  about  7  per  cent. 
The  United  States  Customs  demand  that  opium  to  enter  the  coun- 
try shall  assay  9  per  cent,  or  over.  The  various  grades  differ  so 
largely  in  their  texture  and  their  content  of  gummy  matter  that  it 
is  often  difficult  to  obtain  anything  like  accurate  results  in  assaying, 
particularly  when  a  sample  is  submitted  which  is  of  a  different 
quality  than  that  customarily  handled  by  the  individual  engaged  in 
the  assay.  Often  much  trouble  has  been  caused  the  broker  through 
the  fact  that  the  individual  peculiarities  of  the  various  analysts 
figure  so  largely  in  the  results  obtained.  One  house  of  which  we 
have  heard,  because  of  some  new  improvements  in  their  assaying 
process,  obtain  results  regularly  2  per  cent,  lower  than  the  Govern- 
ment assay  made  in  Smyrna  and  guaranteed  under  that  strength. 
Contribution  from  the  Research  Laboratories 
of  Smith,  Kline  &  French  Company. 
SOME  WELL  KNOWN  SYNTHETIC  CHEMICALS  AND 
THEIR  RELATION  TO  THE  PURE  FOOD  AND 
DRUGS  ACT.1 
By  Lyman  F.  Kebler, 
Chief  Drug  Laboratory,  Washington,  D.  C. 
The  word  "  synthetic,"  as  used  in  the  chemical  world,  means  a 
combination  of  separate  substances,  elements,  or  radicals,  which 
1  Delivered  before  the  Franklin  Institute,  Philadelphia,  January  10,  1907. 
