PRESENCE  OF  GLUCOSE  IN  OPIUM,  ETC. 
71 
1st.  That  the  foreign  opiums  contain  nearly  an  equal  propor- 
tion of  glucose,  and  that  the  mean  is  between  7  and  8  per 
cent. 
2nd.  That  the  mean  proportion  of  glucose  in  the  indigenous 
specimens  was  7.25  per  cent. 
He  therefore  infers  that  the  sugar  in  the  specimens  1,  2,  3,  4, 
5,  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13,  is  essential  to  them  and  not  fraudulently 
added,  and  as  a  corollary  to  this  proposition,  he  considers  that 
all  opium  which  contains  much  more  or  much  less  of  glucose  than 
7  to  8  per  cent,  ought  to  be  suspected. 
The  specimens  6,  7,  and  14  also  support  this  view,  as  in 
the  first,  glucose  has  been  added  as  an  adulteration,  whilst 
the  other  two  have  been  remade  with  other  materials. 
The  analogy  between  the  juices  of  the  poppy  and  lettuce  in- 
duced the  author  to  test  lactucarium,  which  on  trial  he  found 
to  contain  between  8  and  9  per  cent  of  glucose ;  and  on  testing 
the  thridace  of  the  shops,  he  found  the  proportion  of  glucose  as 
high  as  18  to  20  per  cent.,  which  he  thinks  is  one  of  the  causes  of 
its  extreme  deliquesence. 
Mr.  Lahens  afterwards  sought  for  this  variety  of  sugar  in 
other  plants  and  vegetable  products,  and  the  results  obtained, 
though  not  complete,  lead  to  the  belief  that  it  occurs  much  more 
generally  than  has  been  supposed. 
In  order  to  ascertain  whether  any  other  ingredient  in  opium 
would  react  with  the  sugar  test  so  as  to  cause  deception,  the 
author  made  a  series  of  experiments.  First,  all  the  proximate 
principles  of  opium  were  successively  put  in  contact  with  the  test 
liquid,  without  any  reducing  effect.  Secondly,  one  hundred 
grammes  of  an  aqueous  solution  of  opium  was  evaporated  to 
dryness,  and  the  dry  extract  redissolved  in  water  to  make  100 
grammes.  The  latter  tested  with  Barreswil's  solution  gave  the 
same  indication  as  the  first,  showing  that  no  volatile  ingredient 
was  present  as  the  reducing  agent.  Thirdly,  a  solution  of  speci- 
men No.  2  was  treated  with  wTell-washed  yeast,  and  the  resulting 
liquid  yielded  alcohol  by  distillation.  Fourthly,  he  obtained  a 
syrupy  liquid  from  the  liquor  from  which  morphia  had  been  pre- 
cipitated, which,  though  impure,  possessed  two  thirds  of  the  redu- 
cing power  of  syrup  of  starch. 
