104  SOLUTION  OF  MECONATE  OF  MORPHIA. 
Aschoff  proved  its  presence  in  the  stomach,  heart,  lungs,  kidneys 
and  blood  of  a  cat  which  had  been  killed  by  1J  grains  colchicia. 
SOLUTION  OF  MECONATE  OF  MORPHIA. 
By  William  Procter,  Jr. 
A  preparation  has  long  been  known  and  used  in  England  un- 
der the  name  of  "  Solution  of  bi-meconate  of  morphia,"  with  the 
impression  that  it  possessed  decided  merit  in  a  therapeutic  point 
of  view,  from  being  the  natural  salt  of  morphia  as  it  exists  in 
the  poppy.  Until  recently  this  has  been  considered  to  be  me- 
conate  alone,  but  in  1862  Messrs.  T.  &  H.  Smith,  of  Edinburgh; 
discovered  a  peculiar  acid  as  a  constant  ingredient  of  opium, 
which  they  submitted  to  Dr.  Stenhouse  for  analysis,  who  pro- 
nounced it  identical  in  composition  with  lactic  acid  ;  yet  its  re- 
lations to  bases  prove  it  to  be  isomeric  only,  and  they  gave  it 
the  name  of  thebolactic  acid.  These  chemists  have  ascertained 
it  to  be  as  constantly  present,  and  as  regular  in  quantity,  as  any 
other  of  the  well-marked  normal  constituents  of  opium, — they 
having  examined  twenty  different  lots  of  opium,  and  prepared  as 
much  as  one  hundred  pounds  of  thebolactate  of  lime.  They  also 
found  it  to  be  present  in  the  proportion  of  about  two  per  cent., 
and  they  believe  it  to  exist  naturally  in  union  with  the  morphia 
and  perhaps  other  alkalies.  It  follows,  from  this  information, 
that  meconate  of  morphia  only  partially  represents  the  natural 
condition  of  that  alkaloid,  and  to  be  perfect  it  should  be  meconate 
and  thebolactate  combined. 
The  original  preparation,  as  imported,  is  evidently  not  a  solu- 
tion of  the  pure  salt,  as  there  is  both  color  and  odor,  though  not 
much  of  the  latter.  So  far  as  I  remember  no  process  for  it  has 
appeared  in  print ;  the  one  employed  by  Powers  &  Weightman, 
and  Parrish,  was  suggested  by  Edward  S.  Wayne,  of  Cincinnati, 
and  is  said  to  consist  in  precipitating  the  meconic  acid  as  a  lead 
salt,  separating  the  lead  by  hydrosulphuric  acid,  precipitating 
the  morphia  from  the  filtrate  and  washings  of  the  lead  precipi- 
tate, re-uniting  the  impure  meconic  acid  and  morphia  thus  ob- 
tained, and  diluting  the  solution  to  the  strength  of  laudanum, 
using  a  portion  of  alcohol. 
y 
