Am.  J  oris.  Pharm  ) 
July  I,  1873.  J 
A  New  Variety  of  Opiurp. 
315 
like  that  of  Smyrna  opium,  but  strongly  resembles  that  of  green 
coffee;  when  heated,  however,  it  gives  off  an  odor  reminding  of  choc- 
olate. It  is  soft  like  ordinary  opium,  and  contains  5*60  per  cent,  of 
moisture.  It  has  a  light  color,  which  does  not  deepen  on  exposure  ; 
examined  by  the  eye  or  the  magnifier,  it  is  quite  homogeneous.  It 
mixes  readily  with  cold  water  without  requiring  the  malaxation  neces- 
sary for  the  officinal  kind.    The  solution  is  slightly  colored. 
While  Smyrna  opium  yields  generally  49  per  cent,  of  aqueous  ex- 
tract, this  new  kind  yields  53.  It  presents,  however,  the  follow- 
ing remarkable  quality:  when  about  two -thirds  of  the  water  have 
been  evaporated  in  the  water-bath,  crystalline  crusts  are  formed  which 
successively  fall  to  the  bottom,  and  the  liquid  will  finally,  after  cool- 
ing, appear  as  a  crystalline  mass,  from  which,  by  taking  it  up  with 
water,  1'10  per  cent,  of  pure  narcotina  was  separated. 
The  assay  of  this  crude  opium  gave,  by  Fordos'  method,*  as  a  mean 
of  two  experiments,  8*40  per  cent,  of  morphia  and  3-60  per  cent  of 
narcotina  ;  the  amount  of  morphia  is  therefore  less  than  is  required 
of  Smyrna  opium. f 
The  readiness  with  which  this  opium  dissolves  in  water,  its  deli- 
quescence in  the  atmosphere,  etc.,  suggested  a  falsification  with  honey 
or  glucose.  It  is  not  easy  to  establish  this,  since  Mr.  Magnes  Lahens 
has  shown  it  to  be  a  normal  constituent,  at  least,  of  Smyrna  opium. 
Both  kinds  reduce  readily  solutions  of  copper;  but  is  this  reduction 
due  exclusively  to  glucose?  Fermentation  appeared  to  the  author  to 
be  the  only  way  to  decide  this  question,  in  view  of  the  multiplicity  of 
constituents,  a  certain  number  of  which,  like  glucose,  reduce  the  cop- 
per solution.  This  has  been  proven  by  parallel  experiments  made 
with  Barreswili's  solution  and  fermentation.  Smyrna  opium  gave 
some  bubbles  of  carbonic  acid,  and  this  so-called  Persian  opium  sev- 
*  It  is  well  known  that  it  takes  several  days  for  the  morphia  to  precipitate 
completely;  the  precaution  was  observed  by  the  author,  who  observed  in  this 
case  that  if  only  one-half  of  the  required  quantity  of  ammonia  is  used,  nearly 
all  the  narcotina  will  soon  crystallize  out,  leaving  the  morphia  in  solution, 
which  is  subsequently  precipihited.  This  behavior  is  particularly  important 
to  manufacturers  of  morphia  who  may  happen  to  use  this  opium. 
fThis  so-called  Persian  opium  is  certainly  of  medium  quality.  As  far  as 
the  author's  information  goes,  Smyrna  opium,  of  10  per  cent,  morphia,  is  not 
the  commonest  in  the  market.  But  since  the  Codex  has  adopted  that  stand- 
ard, the  author  thinks  that  this  opium  might  be  used  in  place  of  Smyrna  opium 
by  increasing  the  prescribed  quantity  one-fifth. 
