Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
March,  1921.  J 
Diazo-Reaction  of  Morphine. 
235 
late  in  autumn  or  during  the  winter,  and  the  powder  kept  in  close- 
stopped  bottles,  as  it  deteriorates. 
"An  excellent  crimson  dye  is  thus  prepared  ('Thornton's  So. 
Gardener')  :  To  two  gallons  of  the  juice  of  poke  berries,  when 
they  are  quite  ripe,  add  half  a  gallon  of  strong  vinegar  made  of 
the  wild  crab-apple  (ordinary  vinegar  will  do,  as  the  writer  has 
seen)  to  dye  one  pound  of  wool,  which  must  be  washed  very  clean 
with  hard  soap;  the  wool,  when  wrung  dry,  is  to  be  put  into  the 
vinegar  and  pokeberry  juice,  and  simmered  in  a  copper  vessel  for 
one  hour;  then  take  out  the  wool  and  let  it  drip  awhile,  and  spread 
it  in  the  sun.   The  vessel  must  be  free  from  grease  of  any  kind. 
"The  writer  has  seen  articles  dyed  successfully  with  this  plant 
during  the  present  year  (1862).  The  'Solferino'  colour  is  obtained 
from  it.  With  alum  to  fix  the  colour,  I  have  used  the  juice  of  the 
pokeberry  as  a  red  ink.  The  directions  to  the  printer  for  this 
volume  were  written  with  this;  before  adding  alum  I  found  that 
the  red  colour  was  fugitive.  I  consider  it,  prepared  as  above,  an 
excellent  substitute  for  carmine  ink." 
DIAZO-REACTION  OF  MORPHINE.* 
By  M.  L.  Lautenschlager. 
Morphine  and  its  salts  give,  with  diazobenzene  sulphuric  acid, 
made  alkaline  with  sodium  carbonate  or  sodium  bicarbonate,  a  red 
coloration  with  increasing  intensity  as  the  quantity  of  the  alkaloid 
becomes  greater;  a  diluted  acid  changes  the  color  to  a  yellowish 
orange.  The  reaction  is  yet  sensitive  in  a  solution  of  1  part  in 
10,000.  The  coloring  material  that  forms  does  not  become  fixed 
I  on  the  fibers  in  an  acid  bath.  The  reaction  is  not  produced  with 
the  other  alkaloids  of  opium ;  it  can  be  observed  neither  with  heroine 
nor  with  dionine,  nor  with  peronine;  none  of  the  commoner  alka- 
loids give  an  analogous  coloration.  The  physiologic  action  of 
morphine  is  destroyed  in  the  course  of  the  reaction.  This  reaction 
can  be  utilized  in  the  toxicologic  search  for  morphine  in  the  pres- 
ence of  its  succedaneous  or  of  other  alkaloids. 
*Arch.  d.  Pharm.,  1919,  page  13,  through  Annates  de  Chemie  Analytique, 
August,  1920,  252.   V.  O.  H. 
