I 
304     NOTE  on  battley's  sedative  solution  of  opium. 
effects  may  be  produced  by  the  agency  of  the  light  from  colored 
glass,  and  by  colored  solutions  of  metallic  salts  in  which  the 
substances,  are  placed  in  sealed  glass  tubes.  Though  these  blue 
and  violet  colored  solutions  act  as  the  same  colored  glass  in 
permitting  the  solar  actinic  rays  to  pass  them,  yet  he  finds  many 
exceptions ;  for  instance,  a  blue  ammoniacal  nitrate  of  copper 
allows  these  rays  to  pass,  whilst  equally  blue  ammoniacal  ni- 
trate of  nickel  does  not  permit  any  of  them  to  pass.  Sulphate  of 
quinia  and  esculin  completely  arrest  these  rays,  but  we  must  re- 
fer our  readers  to  the  original  paper  above  noted.  The  author 
has  studied  santonin  in  its  relation  to  light  and  finds  it  in  many 
respects  like  erythrocentaurin — but  in  others  differs  decidedly. 
W«  P.,  Jr. 
NOTE  ON  BATTLEY'S  SEDATIVE  SOLUTION  OF  OPIUM. 
By  the  Editor. 
We  have  been  repeatedly  applied  to  for  a  formula  for  Battley's 
solution  of  opium,  under  the  impression,  by  the  querists,  that  an 
authentic  copy  of  the  recipe  had  been  published.  Physicians 
in  Philadelphia,  and  probably  other  parts  of  the  United  States, 
prescribe  it  as  though  it  were  an  officinal  preparation.  Yet  it 
is  parallel  with  McMunn's  Elixir,  and  should  be  classed  with 
secret  preparations,  if  the  latter  be.  Various  recipes  have  been 
published  for  the  preparation,  some  of  them  alleged  to  be  genu- 
ine. The  general  impression  among  English  writers  of  its  com- 
position is,  that  it  is  an  aqueous  solution  of  dry  extract  of 
opium,  with  about  one-fourth  of  its  bulk  of  alcohol  added  to 
render  it  permanent.  Mr.  Cooley,  in  his  Cyclopaedia  of  Practi- 
cal Receipts,  gives  half  a  dozen  versions  of  the  recipe.  The  one 
which  he  appears  to  consider  as  nearly  authentic  is  as  follows  : — 
Liquor  Opii  Sedativus. 
Take  of  hard  aqueous  extracts  of  opium,  three  ounces, 
Rectified  spirits,  six  fluidounces, 
Water,  a  sufficient  quantiy. 
Boil  the  extract  in  thirty  fluidounces  of  water  till  dissolved  ; 
when  cold  filter,  add  the  alcohol  and  sufficient  water  to  make 
forty  fluidounces  Imperial  measure. 
