504  Acidimetric  Estimation  of  Alkaloids.    { A  o'cfo°rUer.^rm" 
employed  with  several  pure  alkaloids.  The  results  are  tabulated 
at  bottom  of  the  preceding  page. 
The  number  of  times  the  analyst  is  requested  to  investigate  the 
purity  of  refined  alkaloids  is  comparatively  small,  but  the  crude 
alkaloids  claim  a  greater  share  of  his  time  and  attention. 
The  next  step  was  to  investigate  the  adaptability  of  the  abi  ve 
process  to  crude  morphine  and  crude  cocaine. 
Indicators. 
Crude  Morphine. 
La  Wall. 
Crude  Morphine. 
Kebler. 
Crude  Cocaine. 
Kebler. 
Brazil  wood  .... 
99  "23 
98'47 
95-90 
Cochineal  .... 
100-14 
99 '53 
97-11 
Hematoxylin  .  .  . 
99  "o8 
97-59 
9574 
99'5Q 
93'93 
96-82 
Methyl  orange     .  . 
102*10 
IOO '02 
100-14 
With  the  same  crude  morphine  the  ash  method  yielded  97-59  per 
cent.;  the  lime-water  method  98-22  per  cent,  and  the  absolute  alco- 
hol method  98-33  per  cent,  of  pure  morphine. 
A  complete  analysis  was  made  of  the  crude  cocaine,  to  ascertain 
how  nearly  the  titrations  corresponded  with  the  gravimetric  process 
of  Dr.  Squibb.a 
Per  Cent. 
Moisture   0-405 
Cocaine,  nearly  pure   97  -300 
Material  soluble  in  ether   otoo 
Material  insoluble  in  ether   I'Sio 
Loss   0*385 
Total  1 00*00 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  crude  alkaloids  claim  considerable 
attention  on  the  part  of  the  analyst,  yet  only  a  few  are  found  already 
extracted  on  the  market.  It  generally  happens  that  the  operator  is 
requested,  not  only  to  determine  the  amount  of  pure  alkaloids,  but 
also  to  extract  them  from  their  natural  sources.  For  this  purpose  the 
writer  employed  a  modification  of  Keller's  process.  The  method  is 
as  follows  :  place  10  grammes  of  the  dry  drug  into  a  250  c.c.  flask, 
add  25  grammes  of  chloroform,  75  grammes  of  ether,  stopper  the 
flask  securely,  agitate  well  for  several  minutes,  add  10  grammes  of 
a  Ephemeris,  3,  1,171. 
