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LIQUOR  OPII  COMPOSITUS.  59 
formula  :  Take  a  tared  bottle  of  sufficient  capacity  to  hold  the 
finished  preparation,  and  having  weighed  into  it  in  succession 
the  remainder  of  the  alcohol  required,  the  purified  chloroform 
and  the  acetic  ether,  shake  them  together  and  then  add  the 
opium  solution.  Then  set  the  bottle  on  a  scale,  and  having 
carefully  adjusted  the  weights  to  the  required  complete  quantity, 
add  water  until  this  quantity  be  made  up,  and  shake  the  mix- 
ture. Upon  first  adding  the  water  the  mixture  becomes  cloudy 
and  suffers  contraction  and  consequent  rise  of  temperature,  and 
if  measured  now,  to  control  the  weighing,  the  measure  will  be 
found  plus.  But  after  standing  over  night,  the  measure  should 
be  found  pretty  nearly  accurate,  if  the  measures  used  be  good- 
The  French  litre  and  half-litre  flasks,  and  a  pipette  graduated  up- 
ward in  cubic  centimetres  to  30  or  50  cubic  centimetres,  are  not 
only  extremely  useful  in  this  process,  but  also  for  many  uses, 
and  particularly  for  testing  the  accuracy  of  graduated  measures. 
When  the  completed  preparation  is  well  shaken,  the  cloudiness 
disappears,  and  it  gives  a  clear  bright  solution  of  a  deep  brown- 
ish or  yellowish  garnet  color,  and  having  a  rather  oily  fluidity 
as  it  drains  down  the  sides  of  a  glass  vessel.  The  taste  is  sweet, 
pleasantly  aromatic  and  somewhat  pungent  at  first,  but  soon 
passes  to  a  peculiar,  not  intense  bitterness — the  bitterness  being 
that  of  other  opium  preparations,  but  less  intense,  less  disagree- 
able, and  less  persistent,  and  comparatively  if  not  wholly  free 
from  the  nauseous  quality  of  the  opium  bitterness.  The  odor  is 
a  refreshing  agreeable  admixture  of  the  acetous  pungency  of  the 
acetic  ether  and  the  sweet  pungency  of  the  chloroform,  and  re- 
calls that  of  the  vinaigrette  smelling-bottle  used  as  a  restorative 
by  the  ladies.  It  is  miscible  in  all  proportions  with  alcohol, 
water,  wine,  syrup,  etc.,  and  is  thus  well-adapted  to  compound- 
ing in  prescriptions.  It  is  perhaps  best  given  in  water,  the  quan- 
tity of  water  being  varied  at  pleasure,  but  generally  limited  to 
the  smallest  convenient  quantity — say,  a  teaspoonful  or  a  table- 
spoonful  of  ice  water  to  each  dose.  When  first  mixed  with  water 
the  mixture  is  cloudy,  but  this  cloudiness  is  only  momentary. 
The  dilution,  and  the  irritant  action  of  the  chloroform,  acetic 
ether,  and  the  large  proportion  of  alcohol,  interfere  materially 
with  its  application  by  hypodermic  injection.    The  old  liquor 
