Aoctobe£  iM5™'}     Examination  of  Opium  Alkaloids.  447 
The  ready  solubility  of  codeine  in  water  and  in  ammonia  water 
suggested  that  this  property  might  be  utilized  for  the  detection  of 
small  quantities  of  codeine  in  presence  of  relatively  large  quantities 
of  those  alkaloids  which  are  very  insoluble  in  water,  such  as  narcotine 
and  papaverine.15  Accordingly  several  mixtures  in  known  propor- 
tions of  codeine  and  the  named  alkaloids  or  of  their  salts  were  pre- 
pared. In  each  case  the  mixture  was  dissolved  in  50  Cc.  of  water, 
containing  a  few  drops  of  hydrochloric  acid,  a  very  slight  excess  of 
diluted  ammonia  water  added  with  stirring,  the  mixture  set  aside  for 
about  eighteen  hours,  the  precipitate  collected  in  a  weighed  Gooch 
crucible,  dried  and  weighed.  The  filtrate  was  then  shaken  with  suc- 
cessive portions  of  ether  until  extraction  was  complete,  the  ether  ex- 
tracts united,  washed  with  water,  evaporated,  the  residue  dried  and 
weighed.  Controls  were  carried  out  with  the  respective  alkaloids  or 
their  salts  without  admixture  with  codeine.  The  alkaloidal  residues 
from  the  controls  amounted  to  but  few  milligrammes  in  each  case. 
If  this  quantity  were  subtracted  from  the  residue  obtained  from  the 
extraction  of  the  codeine  mixture  it  was  found  that  the  remainder 
was  a  close  approximation  to  the  quantity  of  codeine  taken. 
Results. — From  0.2596  Gm.  of  narcotine,  a  precipitate  weighing 
0.2569  Gm.  was  obtained,  equivalent  to  98.96  per  cent,  of  the  amount 
of  narcotine  taken,  and  an  anhydrous  ether  extract  residue  weighing 
0.0038  Gm.  was  obtained  equivalent  to  1.46  per  cent,  of  the  quantity 
taken.  The  ether  extract  residue  gave  tests  for  narcotine,  but  did 
not  respond  to  tests  for  codeine.  From  0.2515  Gm.  of  narcotine  to 
which  0.0267  Gm.  of  anhydrous  codeine  had  been  added,  a  precipi- 
tate weighing  0.2494  Gm.  was  obtained,  equivalent  to  98.37  per  cent, 
of  the  amount  of  narcotine  taken,  and  an  anhydrous  ether  extract 
residue  weighing  0.0270  Gm.  was  obtained,  equivalent  to  101.1  per 
cent,  of  the  amount  of  codeine  taken.  From  0.1644  Gm.  of  narcotine 
a  precipitate  weighing  0.1622  Gm.  was  obtained,  equivalent  to  98.66 
per  cent,  of  the  amount  of  narcotine  taken.  The  nitrate  gave  an 
ether  extract  residue  weighing  0.0017  Gm.,  or  1.03  per  cent,  of  the 
quantity  of  narcotine  taken.  This  gave  tests  for  narcotine,  but  did 
not  respond  to  tests  for  codeine.  From  0.2315  Gm.  of  narcotine  a 
precipitate  weighing  0.2305  Gm.  was  obtained,  equivalent  to  98.71 
per  cent,  of  the  amount  of  narcotine  taken.    The  ether  extract 
15  This  method  has  long  been  used  for  approximately  separating  morphine 
from  codeine. 
