ADecemberT1i9oom'}    Preparation  of  Tinctura  Opii  Deodorati.  579 
sible  alkaloid  free  from  foreign  matters.  Pure  meconate  of  mor- 
phine was  then  warmed  in  a  test-tube  with  fresh  paraffin  for  an 
hour  or  more,  the  paraffin  tested  to  see  if  any  had  dissolved  and 
the  meconate  washed  free  from  paraffin  and  weighed  again.  To 
this  test  not  the  slightest  indication  of  solubility  was  afforded,  the 
meconate  of  morphine  having  been  chosen  as  being  very  nearly  the 
same  salt  of  morphine  as  is  probably  present  in  opium. 
To  reach  conclusive  results,  assays  of  various  samples  of  opium 
and  the  tinctures  made  from  them  were  carried  out.  From  a  gran- 
ulated opium  bought  from  a  jobbing  house,  with  a  guaranteed  assay 
of  15-20  per  cent,  morphine,  a  tincture  was  made  that  assayed  15  per 
cent,  morphine.  In  my  hands  this  opium  assayed  15-10  per  cent., 
Yo-per  cent,  less  than  given.  A  gum  opium  (dried)  was  next  used, 
assaying  13*45  per  cent,  morphine  ;  this  gave  a  tincture  perfect  in  all 
respects,  yielding  13-30  per  cent,  morphine.  Several  other  samples 
of  the  drug  were  used  with  like  results,  the  assay  in  all  cases  agree- 
ing in  showing  the  finished  tincture  to  have  lost  about  i-  of  1  per  cent, 
morphine  in  the  process  of  manufacture.  This  may  be,  and  is,  likely 
due  to  difficulties  in  the  complete  exhaustion  of  the  opium,  as  it 
was  conclusively  shown  that  none  of  the  morphine  was  lost  in  the 
paraffin.  It  seems  to  me  that  a  process  that  will  give  these  results 
leaves  little  to  be  desired.  I  might  state  that  these  assays  were  in 
every  case  made  in  duplicate  and  by  different  methods,  they  agree- 
ing to  all  practical  intent.  The  morphine  yielded  in  the  assay  of 
the  tincture  was  remarkably  light  in  color  even  before  washing,  and 
seemed  very  free  from  contaminations. 
The  relative  cost  of  the  two  methods,  based  on  the  price  of 
materials  lately  quoted,  is  $1.40  per  1,000  c.c.  for  the  U.S. P.  tinc- 
ture to  $1.05  for  the  "  paraffin  tincture,"  a  saving  of  35  cents,  due 
chiefly  to  the  saving  of  the  cost  of  the  ether.  This,  with  the  decided 
advantage  of  easy  working,  should  certainly  suggest  the  adoption 
of  the  "  paraffin  method  "  as  the  official  U.S.P.  process  in  the 
1900  Pharmacopoeia,  if  the  same  results  as  I  obtained  should  be 
reached  in.  the  hands  of  the  working  pharmacist,  and  of  this  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt.  Furthermore,  with  an  easy  and  cheap  mode 
of  manufacture,  we  can  also  consider  the  question  of  adopting  this 
preparation  as  the  sole  liquid  representative  of  opium,  relegating 
laudanum  to  the  limbo  of  confections,  boluses  and  such  ancient  pro- 
ducts of  pharmaceutical  skill.    If  it  should  be  found  necessary  to  its 
