188  EDITORIAL. 
"Papaverine. — This  is  the  purely  anodyne  principle  of  opium.  In  the 
former  edition  of  this  work,  a  process  was  given  for  the  preparation  of  this 
principle  from  the  capsules  of  the  poppy,  and  was  called  denarcotized  ex- 
tract of  papaveris.  But  experience  has  led  to  its  preparation  from  opium, 
as  affording  the  principle  with  the  most  facility.  The  article  is  now  very 
extensively  used  in  the  reform  profession." 
The  author  then  gives  Mohr1 's  process  for  morphia  by  lime  and  muriate  of 
ammonia  in  minute  detail,  without  one  word  of  explanation  as  to  whose  it 
is  or  where  it  came  from,  and  then  remarks, 
aThe  product  of  this  process  is  a  light  grey  or  ash  colored  crystalline 
powder,  which  amounts  to  about  8  or  9  percent,  cf  the  weight  of  the  opium 
used,  if  the  latter  be  good,  and  the  process  is  well  conducted,  [t  is  very- 
bitter,  and  possesses  all  the  anodyne  power  of  the  opium  without  its  narcotic 
and  tetanic  principles.^ 
He  then  goes  into  a  detailed  explanation  of  the  well  known  reactions  in- 
volved in  the  process  of  Mohr,  during  which  it  is  said  that  "  the  narcotic 
power  of  opium  has  long  been  acknowledged  to  depend  upon  the  narco- 
tina (j),  and  the  tetanic  upon  the  thebaina."  The  author  further  re- 
marks : 
"  The  anodyne  power  here  called  papaverine,  is  not  in  the  least  more  ef- 
fective as  an  anodyne  than  the  salts  of  morphia  j  nor  is  it  different  in  princi- 
ple from  one  of  the  three  prominent  constituents  of  these  salts,  i.  e.  the  prin- 
ciple called  morphia.  The  case  is  that  in  this  process  the  morphia  (papa- 
verine) is  separated  as  a  neutral  (!)  and  purely  anodyne  principle.  In  the 
other,  the  salts,  that  is,  the  muriate,  sulphate,  acetate,  etc.,  are  tribasic, 
having  morphia,  narcotina  and  thebaina  conjointly  in  combination  with  the 
respective  acids,"  &c. 
It  will  be  news  to  our  manufacturers,  that  their  salts  of  morphia  are 
iribasic ;  and  if  Dr.  O'Shaughnessy  is  living,  what  will  he  think  of  the 
statement,  that  his  favorite  remedy  for  intermittents  should  be  decided  to 
be  the  narcotic  principle  of  opium,  a  notion  long  since  exploded.  The 
author  evidently  knows  little  of  practical  chemistry  to  make  such  gross 
blunders.  It  is  an  attempt  at  reconciling  the  use  of  this  long  proscribed 
narcotic  to  his  brother  "  reformers,"  under  the  guise  of  a  word  which  has 
a  double  meaning.  Morphia  is  a  poison,  but  papaverina  is  only  the 
pure  anodyne  principle  of  opium  freed  from  its  dangerous  qualities  !  It  is 
hence  presumable  that  the  deaths  which  occur  from  over-doses  of  morphia 
are  due  to  traces  of  narcotina  and  thebaina  ! 
Under  the  head  of  Veratrin,  the  author  speaks  of  Veratrum  Viride,  and 
seems  doubtful  whether  it  deserves  a  place  in  the  reformed  materia  medica, 
"  since  narcotics,  as  necessary  medical  agents,  are  absolutely  and  properly 
rejected  by  true  reformers  in  medicines. 
One  of  the  most  prominent  faults  of  the  book,  is  the  want  of  care  in 
giving  recipes  for  preparations,  and  in  quoting  authorities  ;  for  instance,  at 
page  633  we  find  the  following : 
"  Syrup  of  Wild  Cherry  Bark.—^c.  Wild  Cherry  Bark,  in  powder;  water 
q.  s.j  exhaust  in  a  percolator,  and  add  sugar 'enough  to  preserve  it. '* 
