ii4 
Assay  of  Opium. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pnarm. 
I      March,  1891. 
cess  and  14-40  per  cent,  by  the  U.  S.  P.  process.  The  entire  amount 
of  morphine  obtained  by  the  Squibb  process  was  divided  as  before, 
into  two  equal  portions.  One  portion  was  ignited  and  the  ash 
found  to  weigh  010  gm.,  which  would  be  -020  gm.  for  the  entire 
quantity.  The  other  portion  was  washed  with  hot  ab  ite  alcohol 
and  the  insoluble  portion  dried  to  constant  weight  ir  air-bath  at 
8o°  C,  when  it  weighed  -046  gm.,  which  would  be  -09^  &m.  for  the 
entire  quantity.  Assuming  that  the  insoluble  portion  was  meconate 
of  calcium  Ca(CH207).H20  (Mol.  wt.  255),  its  ash,  after  ignition, 
would  be  calcium  oxide  CaO  (Mol.  wt.  56).  Since  xoo  parts  of  cal- 
cium meconate  represent  21-96  parts  of  calcium  oxide,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  multiply  the  amount  of  calcium  oxide  found  by  4- 5  5  to 
get  the  amount  of  meconate. 
In  the  above  instance,  -092  gm.  of  calcium  meconate  was  found 
by  treating  the  morphine  with  hot  absolute  alcohol;  and  0  20  gm. 
of  calcium  oxide  was  found  by  igniting  a  part  of  the  same  morphine 
•020  X  4-55  =  -opr.  Deducting  -092  and  -091  gm.  from  15-75,  the 
per  cent,  of  morphine  found  we  obtain,  respectively,  14-83  and  14-84 
per  cent.,  figures  which  are  sufficiently  close  to  be  entirely  satisfactory. 
Several  different  samples  of  powdered  opium  were  obtained  and 
assays  made  of  each  by  the  U.  S.  P.  and  the  Squibb  processes.  The 
morphine  obtained  by  the  latter  process  being  subsequently  sub- 
mitted to  the  treatment  as  described  above  with  the  following 
results : 
No. 
Per  Cent,  of  Mor- 
phine by  Squibb 
Process. 
"5  S-  ID 
< 
0  0  3  in 
9,  <~  g 
cd 
W. 
"55  6  6 
%*<* 
fill 
0 
-  ~>1 0  i 
Cd 
a 
V  O  S  <uV 
,  ^  u"'—  cd 
53  §  x  ~  u 
Per  Cent   of  Mor- 
phine by  U.  S.  P. 
Process. 
I 
14-70 
•024  Gm. 
•109  Gm. 
■no  Gm. 
13-60 
13*40 
II 
12*05 
•013  " 
•059  " 
-059  " 
11-46 
11-30 
III 
13-62 
■014  " 
•064  " 
-063  " 
12-98 
12-50 
IV 
14-90 
■037  " 
•170  " 
•170  " 
13-20 
12-84 
V 
I5-75 
■020  '* 
•091  " 
•092  " 
14-84 
14-40 
VI 
16-35 
■049  " 
•223  '« 
14-12 
I4-02 
The  morphine  obtained  from  the  different  samples  by  the  U.  S.  P. 
process  was  found  to  yield  only  a  trace  of  ash  on  ignition. 
