Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1901. 
Reaction  for  Morphine. 
355 
The  alkaloids  operated  upon,  those  most  likely  to  be  found  in  the 
drug  store  were  the  purest  obtainable. 
The  following  table  gives  the  colors  produced  by  stirring  the 
alkaloids  named  with  hydrastine  and  concentrated  sulphuric  acid 
for  five  minutes : 
Aconitine  .....   Brown. 
Atropine  Pinkish. 
Berberine  Greenish-brown. 
Brucine  Light-brown. 
Caffeine  Dirty-white. 
Cinchonine  Dirty-yellow. 
Cinchonidine  Dirty-white. 
Cocaine  Unaffected. 
Codeine  Pinkish. 
Digitaline  Mahogany. 
Heroin  Violet  to  purple. 
Homatropine  Pale-yellow. 
Hyoscyamine   Dirty-white. 
Morphine  ......  Violet-blue. 
Pilocarpine  Light-brown. 
Quinidine  Light-green. 
Quinine    .  .  .  .'  Greenish-yellow. 
Sparteine  Greenish-yellow. 
Strychnine   Dirty-white. 
Veratrine  Royal  purple. 
An  analysis  of  these  results  shows  that  but  three  out  of  the 
twenty  samples  examined  give  a  violet-blue  color  under  the  above 
conditions,  viz.,  heroin,  morphine  and  veratrine. 
Among  this  number  only  one  gives  a  cherry-red  color  with  cold 
concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  viz.,  veratrine. 
The  remainining  two  are  differentiated  by  nitric  acid;  an  orange- 
red  color  indicates  morphine  and  a  yellow  color  heroin. 
When  we  consider  the  sharpness  of  the  reaction  with  the  simplic- 
ity and  ease  of  application,  it  becomes  apparent  that  Lloyd's  test 
for  morphine  is  one  worthy  of  a  place  among  the  alkaloidal  color 
reactions. 
Fully  realizing  the  importance  attaching  to  the  necessity  of  sub- 
jecting as  many  alkaloids  as  possible  to  the  test,  the  writer  regrets 
exceedingly  that  the  number  at  his  disposal  was  so  limited,  but 
hopes  in  the  near  future  to  report  on  those  not  included  in  the  pres- 
ent work. 
