408         Assaying  Galenical  Preparations  of  Opium. /Am- Jour- pharm- 
Aug.,  1890. 
chemist  as  well  as  for  the  analyst.  It  is  scientifically  just  as  valu- 
able to  test  recently-published  methods  as  to  devise  new  ones. 
Before  proceeding  with  the  descriptive  part  of  this  article,  the: 
writer  desires  to  state  that  he  is  indebted  to  Professor  Fliickiger's 
method  for  opium-assay,  published  in  the  Arcliiv  der  Pharmacie,. 
1889  (reproduced  in  this  Journal,  1890,  p.  14),  for  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  a  process  which  yielded  very  satisfactory  results  when- 
properly  applied  to  various  galenical  preparations  ot  opium ;  satis- 
factory to  such  an  extent  that  the  two  important  quotations  heading 
this  contribution  will  need  revision.  A  series  of  experiments,  given 
below,  furnish  evidence  that  the  sugar  contained  in  Vinegar  of 
Opium,  U.S. P.,  does  not  increase  to  any  extent  the  difficulty  ot 
estimating  its  percentage  of  morphine,  and  that  it  is  possible  for 
the  chemist  to  obtain  satisfactorily,  in  one  short  assay,  100  per 
cent,  pure1  morphine  from  the  same  opium,  which  yielded  a  mor- 
phine, loaded  with  impurities  varying  from  ±  20  to  ±  10  per  cent.2 
by  following  the  somewhat  tedious  methods  of  Squibb  and  oi 
Stillwell. 
Assay  of  Opium. — It  should  be  remembered  that  in  the  assaying 
of  opium  the  same  accuracy  cannot  be  obtained  as,  for  instance,  in  a 
water  analysis,  nor  is  this  the  case  with  the  determinations  of  many 
other  alkaloids ;  thus  we  find  the  quantitative  determination  of  atro- 
pine generally  unsatisfactory  ;  in  some  processes  of  assay  strychnine 
splits  up  to  some  extent ;  coniine  determinations  vary,  not  unfre- 
quently ;  assays  of  quinine  are  unreliable  in  the  second  decimal,  etc. 
It  is  also  known  that  absolute  reliance  should  not  be  placed  on  a. 
single  morphine  determination,  since  good  chemists,  experts  in 
1  It  is  perhaps  not  superfluous  to  here  state,  that  it  seems  to  be  of  very  little 
consequence  in  pharmaceutical  assaying  of  opium  whether  or  not  the  mor- 
phine contains  minute  traces  of  other  opium  alkaloids  (codeine,  thebaine, 
even  narcotine)  when  the  balance  is  not  capable  of  detecting  their  presence. 
2  Corrections  in  Opium  Assaying. — How  tenaciously  impurities  adhere 
to  the  morphine  in  Squibb's  process  is  well  known  and  convincingly  shown  in 
Notes  I  and  II  below.    I  copy  the  extremes  observed  thus  far  from  my  notes. 
J.  B.  N. 
I.  Crude  Opium. — Corrections  in  the  crude  morphine  for  impurities  to  be 
deducted  :  19,  16,  14  and  11  per  cent. 
II.  Opium  Preparations. — Corrections  on  morphine  to  be  deducted  :  16,  14. 
13,  12,  10,  7,  6,  5,  4,  3  and  2  per  cent. 
