578        Preparation  of  Tinctura  Opii  Deodorati.    { ^ecembe^™* 
small  pieces,  and  when  this  has  melted  and  become  fluid,  agitate 
the  two  liquids  together  thoroughly  for  five  or  ten  minutes,  until 
the  paraffin  no  longer  seems  to  darken  in  color.  Set  the  dish  aside 
until  the  paraffin  has  cooled  and  hardened,  break  the  crust  and 
pour  off  the  deodorized  aqueous  solution  of  opium  from  it,  washing 
out  the  dish  and  the  under  side  of  the  paraffin  crust  with  a  small 
quantity  of  water  to  remove  adhering  tincture.  Filter  the  solution 
of  opium  through  a  good  filter,  make  up  to  800  c.c.  with  cold  water 
added  through  the  filter,  add  200  c.c.  of  alcohol,  and  make  up  to 
1,000  c.c.  with  sufficient  water  to  balance  the  loss  from  shrinkage 
of  the  mixture  of  alcohol  and  water." 
The  resulting  product  is  a  clear,  deep  red-brown  tincture,  bright 
and  transparent,  entirely  free  from  odor  of  opium  and  possessing  a 
clean,  bitter  taste  slightly  suggestive  of  that  drug.  This  tincture  is 
permanent,  does  not  precipitate  on  standing  and  fully  represents  the 
desirable  qualities  of  opium.  The  advantage  of  the  process  just 
stated  as  a  practical  working  one  will  be  apparent  at  once  to  the 
pharmacist ;  instead  of  having  to  deal  with  a  highly  volatile  and 
inflammable  solvent  that  must  be  separated  from  the  aqueous  layer 
by  troublesome  decantation,  he  simply  has  to  pour  off  the  deodor- 
ized percolate  from  a  solid  body ;  indeed,  the  veriest  tyro  cannot  fail 
of  success  along  these  lines. 
One  or  two  questions  must  be  answered  before  this  method  can 
be  granted  recognition.  The  first  of  these,  "  does  the  paraffin 
thoroughly  remove  the  narcotic  and  odorous  principles  from  the 
opium  percolate  ?"  is  answered  by  the  appearance,  odor  and  taste 
of  the  finished  product  decidedly  in  the  affirmative.  To  test  this 
further,  some  of  the  paraffin  used  in  making  the  tincture  was  melted 
and  shaken  up  with  warm  N/IO  sulphuric  acid  ;  this  took  on  a 
dark  color,  had  the  nauseous  taste  and  smell  of  crude  opium,  and  on 
evaporation  gave  a  residue  that  answered  to  the  tests  mentioned  for 
narcotine.  The  second  question,  "  does  the  paraffin  dissolve  and 
remove  any  of  the  morphine  from  the  percolate  ?"  is  very  important ; 
this  can  be  answered  positively  in  the  negative.  First,  some  of  the 
paraffin  was  carefully  washed  to  remove  possibly  adherent  traces 
of  drug,  melted  and  shaken  up  with  N/10  sulphuric  acid,  and  this 
was  tested  for  morphine. 
To  these  tests  there  was  shown  not  the  slightest  trace  of  mor- 
phine, even  when  the  residue  was  treated  so  as  to  obtain  any  pos- 
