WHAT  IS  OPIUM  ? 
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per  cent ;  the  narcotine  on  an  average  about  5  to  6  per  cent.* 
The  whole  of  the  other  alkaloids,  namely,  pseudomorphine,  co- 
deTna,  thebai'ne,  papaverine,  rhoeadine,  narceme,  kryptopine, 
and  opianine,  may  be  estimated  at  not  more  than  1  per  cent. 
Thus  the  alkaloids  amount  at  best  to  only  J  of  the  weight  of  the 
dried  juice;  and  meconic  and  thebolactic  acid,  and  meconine  to 
nearly  5 J  per  cent.  We  may  say,  in  fact,  that  allowing  for  the 
considerable  discrepancies  existing  in  the  composition  of  opium, 
all  the  peculiar  bodies  found  in  it  do  not  exceed  one-third  of  its 
weight. 
Now,  what  is  the  bulk  of  the  remaining  66  per  cent.  ? — How- 
ever interesting,  however  important,  both  practically  and  scien- 
tifically, the  first  one-third  may  be,  yet  to  have  a  satisfactory 
idea  of  opium,  we  require  also  to  know  exactly  the  nature  of  the 
other  two-thirds.  Most  of  the  analyses  of  opium  enumerate,  in 
order  to  explain  its  composition,  several  very  doubtful  bodies  be- 
sides the  above-named  principles.  Among  these,  extractive, 
mucilaginous,  and  coloring  matters  occupy  the  first  place.  By 
successively  treating  with  various  liquids  small  quantities  of 
opium,  which  alone  admit  of  absolute  exhaustion,  we  may  sepa- 
rate its  constituents  into  several  portions.  For  the  following 
assays  I  took  a  good  Turkish  opium  containing  10  per  cent,  of 
morphine,  which  I  finely  powdered  and  entirely  deprived  of 
water.  The  first  agent  to  which  it  was  submitted  was  benzol. 
After  the  action  of  this  liquid  the  powder  was  dried,  without  re- 
moving it  from  the  funnel,  weighed  and  then  exhausted  in  the 
same  filter  with  absolute  alcohol.  When  it  jaelded  nothing  more 
to  alcohol,  the  powder  was  dried  and  weighed  again  as  above, 
and  then  exhausted  with  cold  and  hot  water,  with  acetic  acid, 
and  with  ammonia.  Lastly,  the  residue  was  examined  micro- 
scopically. It  consisted  of  fragments  of  the  poppy  capsule, 
which  now  had  become  very  obvious. 
The  benzol  solution  on  evaporation  yielded  the  narcotine  and 
caoutchouc,  which  may  be  separated  by  acetic  acid.  Fatty  mat- 
ters occur,  but  only  in  slight  traces. 
Alcohol  takes  up  the  largest  bulk ;   nearly  all  the  bodies 
*  I  had  the  opportunity  of  examining  a  German  opium  from  Bilfcz,  Er- 
furt, which  yielded  11  per  cent,  of  narcotine, 
