Am.  Jour.  Pharm.') 
Sept.,  1876.  J 
The  International  Exposition. 
421 
L.  Menchers  has  on  exhibition  in  the  Spanish  department  several  flat  cakes  of 
opium  wrapped  in  poppy  leaves,  and  to  all  appaarance  of  good  quality.  The 
opium  shown  by  Fr.  Jobst,  of  Stuttgart,  is  of  good  and  even  excellent  quality — the 
sample  produced  in  Silesia  containing  8  to  9  per  cent,  of  morphia,  while  that  raised 
in  Wurttemberg  is  marked  to  contain  between  12  and  15  per  cent,  of  that  alkaloid.. 
The  collective  exhibit  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  contains  specimens  of  the 
white-seeded  poppy  ;  it  is  known  that  a  good  quality  of  opium  may  be  produced  in 
California  ("Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1874,  p.  105),  but  there  has  been  but  little  atten- 
tion paid  to  it  as  yet. 
As  might  have  been  expected,  the  exhibition  of  the  various  constituents  of  opium 
which  are  used  in  medicine  is  quite  extensive,  though  the  samples  are,  in  the  majority 
of  cases,  small  and  insignificant,  and  in  no  way  indicating  the  importance  of  ther 
articles  for  the  respective  countries.  Naturally  the  United  States  are  well  represented,^ 
and  we  are  pleased  to  say  that  the  goods  are  creditable  not  only  in  regard  to  quan- 
tity but  also  to  quality.  The  American  exhibitors  have  confined  themselves  almost 
altogether  to  the  commercial  medicinal  chemicals;  hence  we  find  here  besides 
meconin  merely  the  alkaloids  morphia,  code'ia  and  narcotina  in  their  uncombined 
state,  and  particularly  the  first  one  in  several  of  its  saline  combinations,  among  which 
the  hydrobromate  and  valerianate  of  morphia  may  be  mentioned,  the  first  one  as- 
having  been  recently  introduced  into  medicine,  the  last  one  on  account  of  its- 
superior  appearance,  as  compared  with  some  samples  of  a  dedidedly  brown  color.,, 
met  with  in  the  exhibits  of  two  or  three  other  countries.  The  large,  handsome 
crystals  of  codeia  also  deserve  special  notice,  likewise  the  splendid  exhibit  in  bulk 
of  700  ounces  of  sulphate  of  morphia  by  Powers  &  Weightman  5  the  last  crystalli- 
zation of  this  salt,  instead  of  being  broken  up  in  the  manner  in  which  it  is  seen  in 
commerce,  has  been  simply  cut  up  into  rectangular  bricks  which  are  piled  up  in  one 
large  glass  case. 
The  results  of  original  investigations  with  opium  are  met  with  in  the  exhibits  of 
T.  &  H.  Smith,  of  Edinburgh,  and  of  Fr.  Jobst  5  quite  a  large  number  of  new  opium 
alkaloids  have  emanated  from  the  latter  laboratory,  the  discoveries  of  O.  Hesse,  (see 
"  Amer.  Jour.  Phar."  1870  p.  394,  1875,  P-  447  5  "  Proc-  Amer.  Phar.  Asso  1873, 
P-  373)  5  but  of  the  long  list  laudania  is  the  only  one  exhibited,  besides  the  older 
alkaloids  thebaina,  pseudomorphia,  and  morphia,  with  some  of  the  salts  of  the  latter 
ordinarily  met  with. 
A  more  extensive  exhibit  of  the  constituents  of  opium  is  made  by  T.  &  H.  Smith,, 
who  besides  most  of  the  opium  derivatives  already  mentioned,  show  bimeconate  of 
morphia,  hydrochlorate  of  narcotina,  papaverina  as  alkaloid  and  hydrochlorate,  nar- 
ceina,  cryptopia,  ("  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1867,  p.  421),  Hesse's  rhoeagenina  [Ibid.,. 
p.  123),  crystallized  meconic  acid  and  thebolactic  acid,  discovered  by  the  manufac- 
turers (Ibid.,  1865,  p.  466).  The  latter  nearly  colorless  liquid  is  shown  in  a  large 
glass  jar,  and  the  cryptopia  in  considerable  quantity,  considering  its  limited  occur- 
rence, in  handsome,  well-defined  crystals  as  well  as  in  the  form  of  a  mass  of  cauli- 
flower appearance  and  evidently  the  result  of  drying  the  gelatinous  mass  which,! 
under  certain  circumstances  is  formed  by  the  alkaloid  and  its  salts.  Several  of  the 
opium  constituents  are  presented  in  the  condition  in  which  they  have  been  crystallized! 
in  an  evaporating  dish,  the  mother  liquor  having  been  poured  off.    Altogether  we- 
