DISCOVERY OF A NEW ORGANIC BASE IN OPIUM. 311 
ART. LXIV.— ON THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW ORGANIC BASE IN 
OPIUM. 
By Dr. G. Merck. 
Opium appears to continue an inexhaustible source of 
new substances, and especially of such as possess basic pro- 
perties. Up to the present time five such bodies have been 
prepared from opium, and satisfactorily proved to be distinct; 
and I have now succeeded in discovering a new base in the 
residues from the preparation of morphium, which I shall 
call papaverine. I shall at present merely establish the 
peculiarity and formula of this body, and shall on a future 
occasion describe more fully its preparations, its reactions^ 
and its medicinal properties, if it possess any. 
The pure base separates from alcohol in confused aggre- 
gations of white acicular crystals, and from ether in some- 
what larger needles. It is very sparingly soluble in cold, 
more soluble in boiling alcohol, from which it again sepa- 
rates in a crystalline state on cooling ; it is likewise very 
sparingly soluble in cold ether, and is deposited in crystals 
from a boiling ethereal solution on cooling. It is insoluble 
in water. The solution scarcely turns red litmus-paper 
blue. When the crystals are moistened with concentrated 
sulphuric acid, they turn blue. 
Papaverine forms with acids salts, the majority of which 
are very sparingly soluble in water, the muriate being espe- 
cially characterized by the ease with which it crystallizes. 
The base dissolves readily in moderately concentrated 
muriatic acid ; and on the jjddition of more acid, a white 
precipitate first separates, which collects into drops, and 
forms an insoluble oily layer at the bottom of the vessel. 
When left q.uiet, crystals form in the oily and likewise in the 
