THE WHITE TOPPY.

1289

^"im/ f ' f , mKr P. hia are procured (Journ. de Chim.-Mid. iv. 405, 2c S<5r.)—The foi-tl ie fil? U | I ^ icat * ons °f the process will he found valuable. After the precipitate cmby tlr« er las .* Jeei1 . washed with water, dry it, mix it with proof spirit, and add dropWP acet *c acid until the solution slightly reddens litmus. By this means thehltere l* 1 ’ f n< ? ,J '^ the narcotina, will be dissolved. Precipitate the morphia from thegood,, su at * 0, J by ammonia.—This perhaps is the best process for determining thee ess of opium, at present known.

boi] f] “ em °t’sprocess .—To a filtered infusion of opium add chloride of calcium,si s( ’ ter (to get rid of the meconate and sulphate of lime) ami evaporate to the con-piiljy ft j s yvup. The residuum should form a granular crystalline mass (princi-)i U| . ifi 5 “ r °chlorate of morphia), which is to be separated from the mother water andof (jft^ by resolution in water (Journ. de Pharm. xxiv. 448). This is an application11)0(1 . effor y’ s process hereafter to he described. It appears to be an objectionable me-d ’ a co nsiderable portion of the morphia will he left in the mother-liquor.

“ erbe's process. —Boil an infusion of opium with lime (which dissolves the

Saturate the filtered liquor with an acid, andThis, perhaps, is the most speedy process for

opium

s process .—noil an ml*' l0|4 phia), and filter through paper.

Precipitate the morphia byae detection of opium.

a P av SIOLOG■H

ng ■ ic al Effects, (a.) On vegetables. —The effects of opium

e( £/, an4s have been principally examined by Marcet (Ann. de Chim.tlgg x xix. 20) and Macaire (Ibid, xxxix. 213). The latter states,of t j Je le stamens of the barberry (Berberis vulgaris) and the leaves® en sitive plant lost their contractility, and soon died, when''Ibfiitt °/ 4pesc vegetables were immersed in an aqueous solution ofhiogt i • e some remarks on this subject at p. 384). In one experi-iiijr vtl ich I have been making on this subject, I immersed a flower-°f the barberry in water, to which tincture of opium hadM; ltu In thirty hours I could not perceive any effect on the

c °htr ■ . 0 stamens, even in the overblown flowers, still retained theirh) f|fJ( , ftt'bty. Charvet states that he watered a sensitive plant with abig strong infusion of opium for forty-eight days, without effect-

V\ le irritability of the plant. . , ,

J 6 -> On animals generally.- The operation of opium on animals has>ated!y been the subject of physiological investigation. An abstractl' a considerable number of experiments made by various individualsST>en published by Wibmer (Wirk. d. Arzneim. u. Gijte, Bd. iv.ft., 4 ’ et seq.) The most complete and extended senes of experiment*tlio 'u 4 ma de by Charvet (De VAction comp, de V Opium, Pans, 1826), on, 0 1 ifi'erent classes of animals, for the purpose of determining its com-^ff'eci 1 ' 6 acti °n- While on all it has been found to act as a poison, its

tviinu cm an i.u ii

op, ‘ ure observed to vary somew]„ °f the nervous system.

^ tflfi .7 # 7*7

hat, according to the degree of deve-

tJle invertebrated animals opium causes weakness or paralysis of the

Ccw

l H Ca ^ tissues > with 8

-,_gradual sinking, and death. Thus in the polygas-

' v a r( j ( Ihe annelides, it first accelerates the animal movements, but after-

b p ! >a i?’ ses them ‘

u

Is

Now' in the lower invertebrata, a central nervous• "■ not 1S - a ! to S ether wanting, while in the higher animals of this class,i sufficiently developed to exercise that influence over the wholeIn f/ le ^ "(iiich we observe it to possess in the vertebrated classes

.8ans

vertebrated animals we have a high development of the centrals y>nm 44le nerv °ns system, and a consequent increase in the number> I 0l ns caused bv oninm. Thus in fishes, amphibials, and reptiles,

weakened and paralytic condition of theIn the fish the convulsive contractionswhereas, in the other vertebrata, the superior

W e “ "moms caused by opium.,; °Ut C - rve ’ 4u addition to the wl, u . j ac hle tissues, convulsions,hie body laterally;