1284 ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MECICA.

Tt is <3i? t,n ”

trated. It fuses at 802°, but does not volatilize at any temperature. 0 f • r °"'

guished from morphia by not becoming 1 blue on the addition of the perchlori c rv‘"and by not forming crystallizable salts with acids. From codeia it differs econi« etallizing in large crystals, and in not forming crystallizable salts. With B> e ro per tieSnarceine it has no analogy, and from them it is distinguished by the P ecu * iar ^jl ) sta |)C . e ’which characterize these bodies. It resembles narcotina more than any °. r ^ e pea"?but is distinguished by the crystals being shorter or granular, and wanting by

brilliance possessed by those of narcotina; by its acrid taste; by its fusibility a - t j a toits greater solubility in alcohol; and by nitric acid when dropped on it conyer <j- c ivitua substance like a soft resin, before dissolving it. Pelletier considered it ,san s j s '

Pelletier considered it ,s ? n s j s it c°"'morphia;—hence he called it paramnrphia. According to Dr. Kane’s ana ) n0 thetsists of C25 HH N O 3 ; and its atomic weight is 202. Couerbe’s analysis g 1 ' ta ] s I° sCatom of oxygen. The last-mentioned chemist says that, by fusion, the cp- ve j„, oftwo atoms of water. Magendie says that one grain injected into the j u ?'j j ea th i" 1placed in the pleura, acts like brucia or strychnia, and causes tetanus andfew minutes. . me t W 1 * 1

8. Pseudomorpiiia.—T his is a substance which Pelletier has occasionally^]^, isin opium. It is a whitish solid, which, like morphia, dissolves in caustic ^reddened by nitric acid, and made blue by contact with the sesquichloride 0 nS ist s 0it does not decompose iodic acid, and cannot form salts with acids. I

C27 H J 8 N OW It is not poisonous; at least, nearly eight grains, given to a 1 g { ni0 r 'duced no effect. Pelletier thinks that pseudomorphia must be some combiua 1phia, in which this substance has lost its poisonous properties. . Bfaff/-,

9. Porphyroxin?—T his name has been given by Merck ( Pharm■ Centra 1 '- a j 1 '

1837, S. 3-12; and Brit. Ann. of Med. ii. 82) to a supposed new principetb er > ^ •Bengal opium. It is described as crystallizable, fusible, soluble in alcohol, . „tsweak acids. Alkalies precipitate it from its acid solution. Further exp errequired to determine its existence and precise nature. au 1 ^^'

10 . Resin.—B rown,insipid, inodorous,softened by heat, insoluble in

. ' ' ' ~ e,t ,i0> p

but soluble in alcohol and in alkaline leys. Nitrogen is a constituent of d ^ 0 piu"' .

11. Extractive. —The substance usually denominated the extractive

probably a heterogeneous body. It is brown and acid ; and has been supp°s e , N( pi£-of the active principles of opium. The reasons for this opinion are the 1° a „ infIn th e first place, it is asserted that after the morphia has been separated * r ctsion of opium by magnesia, the filtered liquor gives by evaporation an e f

produces the same kind of narcotic effect that opium does (Berzelius , l ra r llC ipl eS ^t. v. p. 136 ; and t. vi. p. 132). Secondly, the effects of the known active p a( , t ;ve l' 1 ^opium are not sufficiently powerful to authorize us to refer the whole of tu g toperties of opium to them. Thus on an average 100 parts of opium yield

parts of morphia (the most active of the known constituents of opium), an ^ pov**^if this alkali were the only active principle, it ought to be 10 or 12 tin |es n opi* '

as opium is. Now we know that morphia is but little, if at all, more active p r '

and, therefore, this last-mentioned substance either contains some other a ^ principleciple, or the activity of morphia is surprisingly increased by the principle 'jusol 11with which it is naturally in combination. Butter (op. supra cit.) says p

residuum possesses considerably narcotic qualities. pure.

12. Fatty Matter.— Yellow or brownish. Probably colourless wheni

reddens litmus, and unites with alkalies to form soaps, from which acids 1

apparently unchanged. _ 11 V l’ r ° cl1 ,e-

13. Meconic Acid. —Hitherto found in the poppy tribe only. It is usua 7,pj, e »

from meconate of lime by acting on it, in hot water, with hydrochloric acl | ran «p ar 'j, ll tconic acid crystallizes 011 cooling. When pure it is in the form of white, PJ

micaceous scales, which are soluble in four times their weight of boiling' ' ‘ 0 | U tip" Jat this temperature water decomposes it; carbonic acid is evolved, and. a ua iiti l ?metameconic acid (C ] 2 II 1 * Oi*>) is obtained. Cold water dissolves a of ,ll ^-)5).

meconic acid. Alcohol is also a solvent for meconic acid. By the dry distu* 11 l0 H 3

innioc dCid V It'

nic acid, it loses carbonic acid and water, and becomes pyromeconic ac %a S ^ is JThe composition of meconic acid is C7 H2 O 7 ; and its atomic weight, ^ ie / e seS qvM.

The characteristics of meconic acid are as follows :■—1st. It reddens theiron, forming the meconate of the sesquioxide of iron. Alkalies, protocbloru ^ e;i |; sonitric acid, assisted by heat, destroy this red colour. 2ndly. It lorms, 'vit 1 gf

tion of ammoniated sulphate of copper green precipitate (meconate ofIt yields white precipitates ( meconates ) which are soluble 111 nitric acid, c jilO

lead, nitrate of silver, and chloride of barium. 4thly. It is not reddeneof gold.