A  FeJb°.T;iP8?4RM'}  Morphia  Strength  of  Tincture  of  Opium.  57 
money,  a  complaint  we  are  all  troubled  with  more  or  less,  and  one 
which  the  healing  art  may  exhaust  their  whole  catalogue  of  medicines 
and  not  succeed  in  curing ;  he  made  laudanum  in  this  way :  boil  three 
ounces  of  lump  opium  in  three  quarts  of  water,  with  some  powdered 
extract  of  liquorice,  add  one  quart  of  alcohol,  let  stand  a  few  days 
and  filter  ;  this  he  would  call  laudanum.  The  dregs  were  saved  in 
accordance  with  his  directions,  and  after  collecting  together  the  dregs 
of  a  few  gallons  of  the  tincture,  he  would  order  us  boys  to  make 
another  gallon  of  laudanum,  so  called,  out  of  that.  He  frequently 
told  his  young  clerks  that  there  was  a  large  per  cent,  of  narcotina 
left  in  the  dregs  and  it  would  not  do  to  waste  it  by  throwing  them 
away,  as  its  medicinal  properties  were  similar  to  morphia  and  nearly 
equal  in  strength.  I  merely  make  this  statement  here  to  show  what 
was  sold  in  some  shops  as  laudanum.  I  hope  we  have  no  apothecaries 
selling  such  laudanum  in  these  days. 
In  order  to  satisfy  my  curiosity  to  know  what  was  sold  in  some  of 
the  shops,  I  purchased  two  ounces  from  ten  different  stores;  below 
will  be  found  the  result  of  my  examination,  showing  the  yield  of 
morphia  and  narcotina  in  each  fluid-ounce.  The  method  adopted  of 
assaying  was  that  of  Staples'  process,  which  is  the  best  adapted  for  the 
tincture. 
The  tincture  was  first  evaporated  in  a  capsule,  by  means  of  a  water 
bath,  to  one-half,  to  get  rid  of  the  alcohol ;  it  was  then  allowed  to 
stand  so  as  to  get  rid  of  a  blackish  resinous  substance  which  is  solu- 
ble in  alcohol  and  insoluble  in  water ;  the  aqueous  solution  was  then 
poured  off,  and  the  black  deposit  was  washed  with  water  and  filtered, 
along  with  the  first  solution,  into  a  wide  mouth  bottle,  an  equal  bulk 
of  alcohol  was  added  to  the  clear  liquor  in  the  vial,  and  then  water  of 
ammonia  mixed  with  alcohol.  The  mixture  was  next  agitated,  the 
bottle  corked  tightly  and  set  aside  for  three  days.  By  this  time  the 
morphia  will  be  found  crystallized  in  the  vial  ;  the  crystals  were  then 
detached  from  the  bottle,  the  liquor  agitated  and  poured  upon  a  tared 
filter.  There  is  always  a  small  quantity  of  morphia  left  in  the  vial  and 
that  can  be  readily  washed  out  with  a  small  quantity  of  diluted  alco- 
hol, which  served  also  to  wash  the  morphia  and  filter  ;  the  morphia 
was  then  dried  by  a  low  heat,  and  weighed  upon  the  filter.  In  order 
to  prove  whether  the  first  weighing  was  correct  or  not,  the  crystals 
being  easily  removed  from  the  filter,  were  weighed  the  second  time, 
and  no  difference  between  the  two  weighings  was  observed.  To 
