286 
SULPHURIC ACID ON MORPHINE. 
which we are engaged were not accompanied by a small 
quantity of gratiolin which, as we have already seen, is 
slightly soluble in ether. 
In a forthcoming paper, I shall return to the chemical 
and therapeutical properties of gratiolin, and give the re- 
sult of my inquiries into the chemical constitution of the 
gratiola. — Ibid from Jour, de Chimie. 
ART. LXXIX. — ON A REMARKABLE CHANGE WHICH MOR- 
PHINE UNDERGOES BY THE ACTION OF SULPHURIC ACID. 
By A. E. Arppe. 
When morphine is dissolved in an excess of sulphuric 
acid, and the liquid evaporated to incipient decomposition, 
a white body is separated by adding water to the brownish 
mass, which is not sulphate of morphine, and does not con- 
tain a trace of morphine. 
This white body is most readily obtained in the following 
manner : — Crystallized sulphate of morphine is treated with 
a slight quantity of dilute sulphuric acid, the mass evapora- 
ted and heated to 302°-322°. The brown mass thus obtained 
is boiled with water, so that the precipitate which had formed 
on the addition of water is entirely redissolved. The solu- 
tion is filtered as hot as possible, when the white body again 
separates if the solution was sufficiently concentrated. That 
portion of the brown mass which was not taken up by the 
water is again treated in the same manner; a few drops, 
however, of sulphuric acid should be added, in order to 
produce a perfect solution on boiling. When a sufficient 
quantity of sulphuric acid has been used, and the stated 
temperature has not been exceeded during the evaporation, 
