164 
The  Chemistry  of  Opium. 
Am.  .Tour.  Pnarna. 
April,  1891. 
mining  morphine.  Recrystallized  from  alcohol  it  crystallizes  in 
groups  of  fine  yellow  needles  arranged  most  peculiarly  in  the  shape 
of  warts,  which  grow  one  along-side  of  the  other  and  hang  from  the 
surface  of  the  liquid  looking  much  like  plaits  of  hair.  The  salt 
melts  or,  better,  decomposes  without  detonation  at  1 57  0  C.  It 
differs  from  the  corresponding  salt  of  strychnine,  however,  in  not 
being  insoluble  in  either  water  or  alcohol  as  determinations  of  its 
solubility  gave  the  following  results  : 
In  distilled  zvater  at  ij°  C.  —  1 5-6975  grams  of  a  saturated  solution 
yielded  0-031  grams  of  morphine  picrate  (dried  at  ioo°)  which 
gives  a  solubility  of  I  part  in  500  parts  of  water. 
In  absolute  alcohol  at  130  C. — 7-2422  grams  of  a  saturated  solution 
yielded  0-009  grams  of  morphine  picrate  (dried  at  1000)  which 
gives  a  solubility  of  1  part  in  800  parts  of  alcohol. 
This  being  the  case  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  make  use  of  the 
salt  as  a  means  of  determining  morphine. 
Laboratory  of  Prof.  Fluckiger, 
University  of  Strassburg, 
February  17,  1 891. 
\l         THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  OPIUM. 
By  Alfred  Dohme,  Ph.D. 
At  the  instigation  of  my  esteemed  instructor,  Prof.  Fluckiger,  I 
undertook  to  study  the  phenomena  which  present  themselves  when 
opium  is  dialyzed.  When  the  investigation  was  first  begun  the 
prime  object  in  view  was  to  determine,  if  possible,  to  what  cause 
the  acid  reaction  of  aqueous  extract  of  opium  was  due  and  how 
morphine  was  combined  in  the  drug.  As  the  work  progressed  it 
was  decided  to  study  the  relative  quantities  of  the  chief  con- 
stituents of  the  drug  and,  if  possible,  then  draw  conclusions  in 
regard  to  how  these  are  combined  in  nature  in  the  same.  In 
how  far  this  has  proven  successful  the  conclusions  will  show ; 
suffice  it  to  say  here  that  the  work  was  a  very  long  drawn  out  and 
laborious  one  and  not  one  of  the  results  obtained  with  the  ease 
which  one  is  accustomed  to  in  inorganic  analysis.  As  is  the  case 
in  every  operation  with  drugs  and  plants  of  any  kind,  the  numerous 
coloring  matters,  gums,  resins  and  the  many  other  amorphous  sub- 
