Am'i£Z\m*rm-}  Opium  Assaying.  439 
ever  matured.  On  exposure  to  air  the  seeds  become  rancid  and  to 
preserve  their  germinating  powers  they  should  be  kept  in  rotten 
wood  or  moist  sand. 
The  bark  is  about  half  an  inch  thick  and  breaks  with  a  short  fibrous 
fracture ;  externally  it  is  of  a  gray  color  and  smooth,  often  covered 
with  moss ;  inner  surface  whitish  or  after  drying  yellowish  or  pale 
brownish,  smooth  and  very  finely  closely  striate.  The  dry  bark  has 
scarcely  any  odor  and  a  slight  bitterish  taste,  but  the  fresh  bark  is 
of  a  strong  aromatic  odor  and  bitter  acrid  and  astringent  taste. 
It  is  used,  domestically,  in  infusion  or  decoction  for  the  treatment 
of  rheumatism  and  malaria,  and  the  tincture  made  by  macerating 
the  bark  in  brandy  or  whiskey  is  said  to  have  produced  cures  in 
chronic  cases  of  chills  and  fever  when  quinine  had  failed. 
The  bark  which  had  been  collected  in  November,  1890,  yielded 
an  infusion  of  an  acid  reaction,  and  giving  no  precipitate  on  the 
addition  of  alcohol.  The  tincture  became  milky  when  mixed  with 
water.  By  distillation  with  water  a  little  volatile  oil  was  obtained. 
The  presence  of  tannin,  starch,  saccharine  and  coloring  matter  was 
shown,  and  on  incineration  6*^  per  cent,  of  ash  was  left. 
OPIUM  ASSAYING  ONCE  MORE. 
By  Alfred  Dohme,  Ph.D. 
In  a  previous  article  in  this  Journal  *  I  have  reported  upon  some 
comparative  work  done  upon  the  methods  of  Fluckiger,  Squibb  and 
the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  for  the  assaying  of  opium.  Inasmuch  as 
the  method  of  Dieterich  has  come  into  some  prominence  due  prin- 
cipally to  its  adoption  by  the  German  Pharmacopoeia  I  decided  to 
make  some  comparative  experiments  with  it,  comparing  it  princi- 
pally with  our  present  officinal  process.  The  method  of  Dieterich 
was  then  also  critically  examined  as  to  its  complete  or  incomplete 
exhaustion  of  the  opium  under  varying  conditions. 
A  large  supply  of  Smyrna  opium  (opium  A)  was  dried  at  ioo°  C. 
*  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  vol.  63,  p.  161. 
In  my  previous  article  on  opium  assaying,  I  stated  that  the  residues  remain- 
ing after  treatment  of  the  morphine  with  lime  water  were  narcotine.  Not 
being  in  the  scope  of  my  work,  I  did  not  especially  examine  these  residues 
save  to  test  them  for  narcotine,  in  which  case  I  obtained  an  affirmative  test, 
I  have  since,  however,  examined  the  matter  more  thoroughly,  and  find  that 
the  residue  contains  some  narcotine  at  times,  but  is  mainly  and  usually  made 
up  of  calcium  meconate. 
