ON  ACETUM  OPII  OR  "  BLACK  DROP." 
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ACETUM  OPII  OR  «  BLACK  DROP:" 
By  Israel  J.  Grahame. 
This  preparation  of  Opium  was  originally  made  under  the  name 
of  Black  Drop,  about  125  years  ago,  by  Edward  Runstall  of  Dur- 
ham, England ;  and,  notwithstanding  its  variable  character,  result- 
ing both  from  the  quality  of  the  opium  and  mode  of  preparation,  it 
still  continues  to  enjoy  a  considerable  share  of  favor  from  the  medi- 
cal profession,  which  certainly  affords  an  evidence  of  its  efficiency 
as  a  remedy  in  the  treatment  of  disease.  It  is  supposed  to  possess 
advantages  over  laudanum,  by  the  absence  of  certain  disturbing 
principles  contained  in  the  latter  taken  up  by  the  alcoholic  menstruum, 
and  the  conversion  of  the  native  meconate  of  morphia  into  the 
acetate.  However  deserving  this  claim  for  superiority  over  lauda- 
num or  other  preparations  of  opium  may  be,  it  is  not  now  my  pro- 
vince to  consider ;  but,  a  preparation  of  so  active  a  medicinal  agent 
as  opium,  which  has  stood  the  test  of  so  many  years  of  favorable 
use,  affords  a  subject  worthy  the  attention  of  pharmaceutists  with 
reference  both  to  the  strength  and  process  of  preparation.  It  is 
these  two  points  that  I  propose  to  consider  in  this  paper,— not  be- 
cause the  same  subject  has  not  been  amply  and  ably  treated  of 
before ;  but  because  I  conceive  difficulties  and  discrepancies  have 
resulted  from  the  use  of  the  medicine  in  the  hands  of  many,  for 
want  of  the  establishment  of  a  proper  uniformity  in  both  these  par- 
ticulars. First,  with  reference  to  the  strength  of  the  article.  By 
consulting  the  Dispensatory  we  find  the  preparation,  according  to 
the  formula  of  the  U.  S.  P.,  to  represent  twice  as  much  Opium  as 
Laudanum  and  to  contain  Aromatics  ;  while  the  Dublin  makes  a 
vinegar  of  Opium  without  aromatics,  of  about  the  same  strength  as 
Laudanum;  the  Edinburgh  on  the  other  hand,  directs  a  preparation 
representing  about  three  times  the  o^antity  of  opium  as  in  laudanum, 
also  excluding  aromatics. 
Now  all  these  formulae  of  the  pharmacopoeias  are  intended  as 
substitutes  for  the  old  Black  Drop,  and  in  order  to  judge  correctly 
how  nearly  they  approximate  in  strength  to  the  original  it  will  be 
well  to  examine  what  is  supposed  to  represent  the  original  formula, 
which  is  very  nearly  couched  in  the  language  of  the  formula  given 
in  the  first  edition  of  the  U.  S.  P.,  which  says,  u  take  of  Opium  half 
