Assay  of  Opium  for  Morphia.  501 
believe  that,  provided  the  solution  produced  be  acid,  water  will  effect- 
ually exhaust  the  marc. 
It  may  be  said  that  opium,  after  prolonged  treatment  with  water,  has 
a  bitter  taste,  thus  proving  some  constituent  to  be  present ;  but  that 
this  bitterness  is  not  due  to  morphia  may  be  proved  by  treating  the 
marc  with  benzol,  ether  or  bisulphide  of  carbon,  when  the  bitterness  is 
entirely  removed.  Preliminary  treatment  with  one  of  the  above  men- 
tioned solvents  is  recommended  by  some  authors,  and  this  plan  has  the 
advantage  that  the  quantity  of  water  required  for  the  after  treatment  of 
the  opium  is  much  less  than  if  the  preliminary  exhaustion  be  omitted, 
and  also  that  the  narcotina  being  nearly  all  removed,  the  point  of  ex- 
haustion is  more  easily  noticed  by  the  solution  dropping  through  devoid 
of  bitterness.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that  a  slight  loss  of 
morphia  is  entailed  by  the  preliminary  treatment,  but  the  amount  may 
be  calculated  by  adding  '005  gr.  for  every  10  cc.  of  solvent  used  to  the 
amount  of  morphia  afterwards  found. 
Hot  water  is  also  recommended  by  some,  but  I  do  not  think  much 
advantage  is  gained  by  its  use,  as  the  following  experiment  will  prove  : 
No.  1.  100  grains  of  dried  powdered  opium  were  treated  with  hot 
water.  It  yielded  69  per  cent,  of  extract  and  12*2  per  cent,  of  brown 
crystalline  morphia. 
No.  2.  100  grains  of  the  same  opium  were  treated  with  cold  water 
by  percolators  ;  five  fluidounces  of  water  were  used  and  then  the  solu- 
tion had  a  very  bitter  taste.  It  yielded  54*3  per  cent,  extract  and  11*9 
per  cent,  of  colored  crystalline  morphia. 
No.  3.  100  grains  were  treated  first  with  boiling  benzin  and  after- 
wards percolated  with  water.  It  required  under  three  ounces  of  liquid 
to  render  the  marc  tasteless,  whilst  in  the  previous  experiment  five 
fluidounces  were  required,  and  even  then  the  solution  obtained  was 
slightly  bitter.  The  liquid  yielded  547  per  cent,  of  extract  and  12.2 
of  colored  crystalline  morphia. 
It  will  be  seen  from  these  experiments  that  although  hot  water  dis- 
solves more  from  opium  than  cold  water,  yet  the  yield  of  morphia  is 
not  greater.  The  effect,  however,  of  first  using  benzin  is  more  marked, 
and  the  increased  yield  of  morphia  I  believe  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  less 
water  being  used,  less  time  was  required  to  evaporate  the  solution,  and 
thus  destruction  of  the  morphia  by  heat  is  avoided.    I  also  tried  the 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Nov.,  1876.  J 
