Am.  Jour.  Pharui. ) 
June,  1884.  | 
Morphine. 
337 
with  2^H20  in  long  colorless  silky  needles,  easily  soluble  in  alcohol 
and  boiling  water,  sparingly  so  in  cold  water.  It  gives  up  2  mols. 
H20  at  100°,  but  the  remainder  cannot  be  expelled  without  decompo- 
sition setting  in.  With  concentrated  sulphuric  acid  it  gives  a  brownish- 
red  coloration.  The  platinochloride  forms  a  sparingly  soluble  yellow 
crystalline  precipitate.  An  aqueous  solution  of  the  «-iodide  becomes 
milky  on  addition  of  potassium  or  sodium  hydroxide,  and  gradually 
deposits  an  oil  which  appears  to  be  unchanged  iodide.  If,  however, 
the  solution  be  boiled  with  alkali,  an  oil  is  deposited  on  cooling,  which 
solidifies  after  a  time.  This  substance  is  not  the  original  iodide,  but 
is  isomeric  with  it,  and  the  author  therefore  names  it  ft-code'ine  methio- 
dide.  It  differs  from  the  a-iodide  in  crystalline  form,  in  containing 
no  water  of  crystallization,  and  in  being  less  soluble  in  water.  The 
^-chloride  was  not  obtained  in  the  crystalline  form,  and  gave  a  purplish- 
violet  color  with  concentrated  sulphuric  acid.  The  ft -platinochloride 
yields  small  orange  needles :  the  sulphate  is  amorphous.  Decomposed 
with  barium  hydroxide,  the  sulphate  yields  the  alkaline  ft-methocode'ine 
methylhydr oxide,  which  crystallizes  in  small  colorless  plates  and  flat 
prisms,  soluble  in  water  and  alcohol.  If  the  solution  be  evaporated 
at  30-40°,  an  amorphous  deliquescent  and  highly  caustic  mass  is  left. 
This,  however,  is  not  a  pure  body.  The  ft-chloride  yields  ft-acetyl- 
niethocode'ine  methochloride,  from  which  the  /9-iodide  can  be  obtained 
by  double  decomposition.  The  platinochloride  forms  a  yellow  powder 
containing  3H20. 
These  results  confirm  the  presence  of  only  two  hydroxy  1  groups  in 
morphine ;  and  the  author  points  out  that  these  two  groups  are  dif- 
ferent in  character,  the  hydrogen  of  one  being  replaceable  by  either 
positive  or  negative  radicals,  that  of  the  other  only  by  the  radicals  of 
the  fatty  acids.  Morphine  methiodide  is  not  decomposed  by  boiling 
with  bases,  whereas  directly  the  hydroxylic  hydrogen  atom  is  replaced 
by  an  alcohol  radical,  the  stability  of  the  methiodide  is  at  once  reduced, 
and  in  the  presence  of  bases,  its  decomposition  and  the  introduction 
of  the  methyl  radical  into  the  nucleus  takes  place  even  at  ordinary 
temperatures.  The  author  believes  the  hydrogen  atom  thus  replaced 
to  be  one  in  close  proximity  to  the  hydroxyl  group,  which  is  only  dis- 
placeable  by  acid  radicals,  and  not,  as  Gerichten  and  Schrotter  contend, 
one  of  those  combined  with  the  nitrogen  atom.  He  declines  to  accept 
as  proved,  the  formation  of  methylethylpropylamine  by  the  decompo- 
sition of  ethocodei'ue  methylhydroxide,  on  which  Gerichten  and  Schrol- 
22 
