514 
AMERICAN  OPIUM  FROM  VERMONT. 
an  extract,  incorporated  with  the  inspissated  juice  of  the  cap- 
sules, so  that  when  finished  the  whole  constituted  a  soft  mass  of 
pilular  consistence  and  nearly  homogeneous  texture,  (except  a 
few  fragments  of  vegetable  tissue,)  possessing  a  strong  narcotic 
odor  almost  precisely  that  of  good  ordinary  opium,  but  not  so 
decided,  and  a  uniform  dark  brown  color.  Its  reaction  is  acid. 
This  year  Mr.  Wilson  obtained  640  pounds  of  this  opium  from  six 
and  a  quarter  acres  of  land,  being  100  pounds  to  the  acre,  for 
which  he  obtained  prices  varying  from  eight  to  ten  dollars  per 
pound  from  druggists  and  physicians  in  New  England. 
When  macerated  in  water  it  soon  breaks  down  and  is  readily 
extracted.  The  pulpy  matter  left  from  100  grains  after  perco- 
lation with  water  until  exhausted,  amounted  to  25  grains.  One 
hundred  grains  carefully  dried  in  a  hot  air  bath  weighed  84  grains, 
and  hence  contains  16  per  cent,  of  moisture.  Subjected  to  the 
action  of  diluted  alcohol  until  exhausted,  the  residue  weighed  13 
grains.  Treated  with  ordinary  ether  and  dried,  the  moist  opium 
lost  20  per  cent,  of  its  weight ;  but  16  per  cent,  of  this  loss  is 
due  to  water  in  the  normal  opium,  leaving  the  ethereal  extract 
equivalent  to  4  per  cent.  The  ethereal  solution  had  a  light 
greenish  color,  due  to  chlorophylle.  On  evaporating  the  ether 
spontaneously,  the  residue  consisted  of  numerous  minute,  well- 
defined  crystals  of  narcotina,  a  greenish  oleo-resinous  matter,  and 
the  odorous  matter  of  the-  opium.  The  crystals  are  nearly  all 
prisms,  with  parallel  sides  and  two-sided  oblique  terminations, 
and  a  few  stellate  groups  occur.  Separated  and  wiped,  they 
afford  an  intense  yellow  color  to  nitric  acid,  and  when  treated  with 
sulphuric  acid  followed  by  nitrate  of  potassa,  they  yield  the 
usual  deep  red  coloration  of  Orfila's  test  for  narcotina.  Benzine 
extracted  4.5  per  cent,  of  green  elastic  caoutchouc  matter  con- 
taining narcotina.  The  aqueous  and  alcoholic  solutions  respond 
freely  to  the  tests  for  meeonic  acid. 
The  morphia  present  was  assayed  by  the  process  of  Mohr. 
100  grains  of  the  moist  opium  (representing  81  grains  dried) 
was  exhausted  with  repeated  portions  of  cold  water  and  finally 
percolated,  until  four  fluidounces  of  infusion  was  obtained.  This 
was  boiled  with  100  grains  of  lime  previously  slaked  with  some 
of  the  weaker  liquid  for  fifteen  minutes,  filtered  hot  and  the 
