Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 104

"_b._ That no account is taken of the loss of morphia by non-precipitation.

"The modifications I would introduce are as follows:--

"_a._ The opium should be first treated with bisulphide of carbon or benzine.

"_b._ The dried residue should then be mixed with its own weight of lime and two or three times its bulk of some inert powder, such as pumice or gla.s.s. It is then to be percolated with water, the first part of the percolate being returned as fast as it runs through. By this means much less water will be required to exhaust the opium than would otherwise be the case.

"After the opium has been exhausted, which will be known by the liquid dropping through devoid of taste, the solution should be exactly neutralised with dilute sulphuric acid and filtered and the precipitate washed. The clear solution is then to be evaporated over a water bath until its bulk is about 1/2 an ounce, and again filtered if requisite, then ammonia is to be added in slight excess, and the liquid allowed to stand for 24 hours.

"The precipitate can then be collected, washed with ether and dried, and to the amount formed must be added the amount corresponding to the quant.i.ty of water used in precipitating and was.h.i.+ng.

"The morphia obtained by this process is of a dull white colour, crystalline, perfectly soluble in alcohol, acids, and alkalies."

5. (Prollius.) This is a very simple process and is said to give very exact results. It is as follows:--The opium is exhausted with 9 or 10 times its weight of spirit of 34 per cent. strength. Of the resulting tincture, 100 parts are well shaken with 5 parts of ether and 2 parts of solution of ammonia in a stoppered bottle, and then allowed to stand from 12 to 24 hours. The liquids separate slowly, and retain, partly in the ether, partly in the alcoholic liquid, the colouring matter, narcotine, and other crystallisable const.i.tuents of opium; while the morphia separates in crystals between the two layers, and finally sinks to the bottom. The fluid portion is decanted, the crystals are washed with diluted alcohol, dried and weighed.

6.[76] (Teschemacher.) In employing the following method the use of alcohol to extract the morphia is avoided, and meconic acid is separated at an early stage, which prevents the formation of a basic meconate on precipitation of the morphia. Two special reagents are required for this process; the one prepared by mixing 1 part of ammonia, sp. gr. 0880, with 20 parts of methylated alcohol, and digesting in this mixture a large excess of morphine; this, when filtered, is termed "_morphiated spirit_;"

the other, _morphiated water_, is water saturated with excess of morphine, and contains 004 per cent. of this alkaloid. 1000 gr. of opium are macerated for 12 to 24 hours in about 4000 grains of cold distilled water, together with 300 gr. of lead acetate, stirring the mixture from time to time. This separates the meconic acid as lead meconate, whilst the morphia is dissolved in the acetic acid set free.

[Footnote 76: 'Chemical News,' x.x.xv, 47.]

After this maceration the opium may be readily ground in a mortar to a paste, and so much more cold distilled water added, raising the pestle and mortar with successive portions of it as to fill with the mixture a measure = 20,250 grains of distilled water; experience has shown that the s.p.a.ce occupied by the insoluble matters measures from 200 to 300 gr., so that the limit of possible error, by averaging and allowing 250 gr. for the insoluble portion, amounts to 005% in opium containing 10% of morphia. The mixture is to be filtered and 15,000 measured gr. = 750 grains of opium, of the clear solution, are to be evaporated to an extract on a water bath, and this residue to be drenched with 3090 gr. of boiling alcohol or methylated spirit, and the whole digested, with frequent stirring, for about 10 minutes.

This separates the gum, &c., of the opium which is insoluble in alcohol, and so far frees the solution of morphia from impurity.

At this stage of the process it is well to get rid of the excess of lead-salts, and to accomplish this, sulphuric acid is preferable to sulphuretted hydrogen. So much diluted sulphuric acid as may be equal to 30 gr. of oil of vitriol will almost always be sufficient for this purpose, any excess of acid being converted into sulphate of ammonia by the subsequent addition of so much solution of ammonia as shall be equivalent to the 30 gr. of oil of vitriol, thus forming a salt but slightly soluble in the alcoholic solution. This mixture may now be transferred to a beaker and allowed to settle for 12 hours, after which it is to be filtered, and the filter and insoluble residue thoroughly washed with alcohol or methylated spirits. This alcoholic filtrate is then distilled, or evaporated on a water bath, to about 1000 gr.; and mixed, while still hot, with 400 gr. of solution of ammonia, sp. gr. 0880, stirring rapidly and continuously for at least 20 minutes, whilst the beaker or evaporating dish should be cooled as rapidly as possible by immersion in an external vessel filled with cold water. The rapid and continuous stirring is most important, as the precipitation of the whole of the morphia _in fine powder_ is thereby effected, instead of the granular or mamillated condition so frequently met with, and it thus permits of the easy and thorough separation of all the narcotine which may be mixed with the morphine. When the cooling of the mixture and precipitation of the morphia is thus attained, transfer it quickly and completely to a filter of sufficient capacity to hold the whole, and when the liquid portion has pa.s.sed through, wash the remainder of the precipitated morphia adhering to the dish or beaker on to the filter, using for this purpose the morphiated spirit already described, and continuing the was.h.i.+ng of the precipitate until it is completely freed from the mother-liquor. To do this effectually requires some little care: thus the morphia on the filter must be kept in a spongy condition and never allowed to cohere, which is easily effected by pouring the morphiated spirit round the edges of the filter, so as not to disturb the precipitate, which must not be permitted to drain or solidify until this was.h.i.+ng is completed.

The precipitate is now to be washed from off the filter-paper with the morphiated water previously described, and digested therein for a few minutes, which removes some more colouring matter, together with any salts soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol, which may have adhered to the precipitated morphia; then once more collect the precipitate on a filter, was.h.i.+ng it with morphiated spirit, after this once with ether, and finally thrice, or more with benzine; this completely frees it from narcotina, which is very soluble in benzine; morphia, on the contrary, being insoluble in this liquid. It now remains to drain and dry at a low temperature, say 100 F., the resulting pure and white morphia, the weight of which will indicate the amount of this alkaloid present in 750 gr. of the opium under examination.

7. (Ph. E.) Macerate 100 gr. of opium for 24 hours in 2 fl. oz. of water, filter, and strongly squeeze the residue; then precipitate the infusion with carbonate of sodium, 1/2 oz., dissolved in cold water, 2 fl. oz.; gently heat the precipitate until it shrinks and fuses, then cool and weigh it. It should weigh at least 10 gr., and, when powdered, be entirely soluble in a solution of oxalic acid. See also Watts' 'Dic. of Chemistry,'

article OPIUM.

_Tests._ These depend chiefly on the chemical and physical characters of morphia and meconic acid, the tests for which have been already noticed.

In operating upon the contents of the stomach, or upon solid organs, in cases of suspected poisoning, the best method or proceeding is that already described under ALKALOID.

Another method is to boil the substances in water slightly acidulated with acetic acid, next to evaporate the solution to the consistence of a thick syrup, and then to treat it twice with boiling rectified spirit; the tincture thus obtained is to be filtered when cold, and again evaporated to the consistence of a syrup; it is now re-dissolved in distilled water, the filtrate treated with solution of subacetate of lead, and the precipitate of meconate of lead, separated by filtration, and carefully preserved. A current of sulphuretted hydrogen is then pa.s.sed through the solution to precipitate excess of lead, and after again filtering it the liquid is evaporated, at first in a water bath, and afterwards under the receiver of an air-pump. The shapeless ma.s.s of crystals thus obtained present all the characters of morphia, if the substance examined contained opium. In the meantime the precipitate of meconate of lead is to be boiled with water acidulated with sulphuric acid, and the insoluble sulphate of lead separated by filtration; the filtered liquid, by evaporation, furnishes meconic acid, either under the form of crystals or an amorphous powder, the solution of which precipitates ferric salts of a deep blood-red.

The following are additional tests to those already noticed:--

1. From the peculiar odour of opium, often perceptible when the drug has been taken only in very small quant.i.ties.

2. A solution containing crude opium is turned of a deep red colour, or if coloured, it is turned of a reddish brown, and is darkened by tincture of ferric chloride.

3. (Hare.) A portion of the suspected liquid is poured into a beaker gla.s.s, and a few drops of solution of acetate of lead are added to it; the whole is stirred frequently for 10 or 12 hours, and then allowed to settle, after which the supernatant liquid is decanted; 20 or 30 drops each of dilute sulphuric acid and solution of ferric sulphate are next poured on the precipitate (meconate of lead), when a deep and beautiful red colour will be developed if the original liquid contained opium.

4. (Dr Rieget.) The suspected substance is mixed with some pota.s.sa, and is then agitated with ether; a strip of white unsized paper is next several times moistened with the solution, and when dry it is re-moistened with hydrochloric acid, and exposed to the steam of hot water. The paper a.s.sumes a red colour, more or less deep, if opium is present.

_Uses, &c._ Opium is one of the most valuable substances employed in medicine. In small doses it acts as a powerful and diffusible stimulant, in somewhat larger ones it is narcotic, and in excessive doses it proves an active narcotic poison. It is also anodyne, antispasmodic, diaph.o.r.etic, soporific, and sedative, its peculiar action being greatly modified by the dose and the condition of the patient. Its action as a stimulant is followed by sedative effects, which are, in general, much more marked than could be expected from the degree of previous excitement it induces. It is employed to fulfil a variety of indications--to procure sleep, to lull pain, allay irritation, check morbid discharges, alleviate cough and spasm, &c. &c. It also, when judiciously administered, renders the body less susceptible of external impressions, as those of cold, contagion, &c.; but it is injurious when the pulse is high, the heat of the body above the natural standard, and the skin dry, or when there is a disposition to local inflammation or congestion. When applied externally, in the form of frictions, liniments, ointments, &c., it is absorbed, and produces similar effects to those produced by swallowing it, but in this way it requires to be used in larger quant.i.ties.--_Dose._ As a stimulant, 1/4 gr., every 2 or 3 hours; as an anodyne and antispasmodic, 1/2 to 1 gr.; as a soporific, 1/2 to 2 gr.; in violent spasms, neuralgia, acute rheumatism, &c., 2 to 4 gr., increased in delirium tremens, hydrophobia, mania, teta.n.u.s, &c., to several times that quant.i.ty, according to circ.u.mstances.

The use of opium as a stimulant and intoxicant is common among the nations of the East. The Turks chew it, and the Chinese smoke a watery extract of it, under the name of 'chundoo,' the preparation of which from the crude article const.i.tutes a special business. Messrs Fluckiger and Hanbury, in their 'Pharmacographia,' published in 1874, say this particular business is not confined to the celestials, since, in 1870, a British firm at Amoy opened an establishment for preparing chundoo for the consumption of the Chinese in California and Australia.

The qualities most valued by the Chinese in opium are its fulness and peculiarity of aroma, and its degree of solubility. The amount of morphine it contains is a secondary consideration.

The practice of opium smoking yearly increases in China. It appears to be openly followed, and no odium attaches to it, provided it is not carried so far as to intoxicate or incapacitate the smoker.

In the larger cities and towns adjacent to Amoy the proportion of opium smokers, according to Mr Hughes, Commissioner of Customs at Amoy, is estimated at from 15 to 20 per cent. of the adult population.

In the country districts 5 to 10 per cent. of the population are believed to be opium smokers.

In many of the Western States of America the practice has become so notoriously common that in 1872 the legislature of Kentucky pa.s.sed a bill by which any person who, through the excessive use of opium, is incapacitated from managing himself or his affairs, may, upon the affidavit of two citizens, be confined in an asylum, and subjected to the same restraint as lunatics or habitual drunkards.[77]

[Footnote 77: Blythe.]

Of late years opium-eating and laudanum-taking have, unfortunately, been greatly on the increase in this country, and the employment of this drug as a soporific for infants and young children has become so general amongst the poor and dissipated as to call for the interference of the legislature.

Of the 250,000 lbs. of opium which, as shown by the recent returns made by the Custom House, are imported into this country, it has been computed that not more than a third of this quant.i.ty is used for medicinal purposes.

According to Dr Chevers the practices of opium-eating and opium-smoking are very common among the natives of India. The same authority also states that in that country a large number of female infants are purposely poisoned by it, by introducing the drug into the child's mouth, and in various other ways.

The first effect of opium as a stimulant is to excite the mental powers and to elevate those faculties proper to man; but its habitual use impairs the digestive organs, induces constipation, and gradually lessens the energy of both the mind and body. In excessive quant.i.ties it destroys the memory, induces fatuity and a state of wretchedness and misery, which after a few years is mostly cut short by a premature death. In this respect the effects of the excessive use of opium closely resemble those of fermented liquors.

Opium is somewhat uncertain in its action; some persons being able, sometimes from idiosyncrasy, but more frequently from previous indulgence in it, to take a much larger dose than others. The smallest quant.i.ty which is said to have proved fatal with an adult is 4 grains of the crude opium.

In contrast with this may be quoted the statement of Dr Garrod, of a young man who not only swallowed 60 gr. of Smyrna opium night and morning, but very frequently, in addition to this, 1 oz. to 1-1/2 oz. of laudanum during the day.

Dr Chapman also cites the case of a patient to whom a winegla.s.s of laudanum had to be administered several times in 24 hours.

_Pois._--_Symptoms._ Headache; drowsiness; stupor; frightful reveries; vertigo; contracted pupil (generally); scanty urine; pruritus or dry itching of the skin, often accompanied by a papular eruption; thirst; dryness of mouth and throat; weak and low pulse; vomiting; respiration, generally, natural. Sometimes the drowsiness or sleep is calm and peaceful.--_Ant., &c._ Vomiting must be induced as soon as possible, by means of a strong emetic and tickling the fauces. If this does not succeed, the stomach-pump should be applied. The emetic may consist of a 1/2 dr. of sulphate of zinc dissolved in 1/2 pint of warm water, of which one third should be taken at once, and the remainder at the rate of a wine-gla.s.sful every 5 or 10 minutes, until vomiting commences. When there is much drowsiness or stupor, 1 or 2 fl. dr. of tincture of capsic.u.m will be found a useful addition; or one of the formulae for emetic draughts given at page 588 (especially No. 7) may be taken instead. Infusion of galls, cinchona, or oak-bark, should be freely administered before the emetic, and water soured with vinegar and lemon-juice, after the stomach has been well cleared out. To rouse the system, spirit-and-water or strong coffee may be given. To keep the sufferer awake, rough friction should be applied to the skin, an upright posture preserved, and walking exercise enforced, if necessary. When this is ineffectual, cold water may be dashed over the chest, head, and spine, or mild shocks of electricity may be had recourse to. To allow the sufferer to sleep is to abandon him to destruction. Bleeding may be subsequently necessary in plethoric habits, or in threatened congestion. The costiveness that accompanies convalescence may be best met by aromatic aperients; and the general tone of the habit restored by stimulating tonics and the shower bath. The smallest fatal dose of opium in the case of an adult within our recollection was 4-1/2 gr. Children are much more susceptible of the action of opium than of other medicines, and hence the dose of it for them must be diminished considerably below that indicated by the common method of calculation depending on the age. See DOSES, &c.

_Concluding Remarks._ Opium is a very complicated substance, and contains a number of alkaloids and other proximate vegetable principles, besides a certain portion of saline matter. The substances already detected in it are caoutchouc, codein, fatty matter, lignin, meconic acid, meconia, morphia, narceia, narcotia, odorous matter, opiania, papaveria, pseudomorphia (?), porphyroxin, resin, saline matter, &c. It is doubtful, however, whether some of these substances are not generated from other principles existing in opium during the processes adopted to obtain them.

According to Mulder, 100 parts of ordinary Smyrna opium contain--

Morphia 10842 Codeia 678 Narcotia 6808 Narceia 0662 Meconia 804 Meconic acid 5154 Resin 3582 Gummy matter 26242 Mucus 19086 Fatty matter 2166 Caoutchouc 6012 Water 9846 Matter undetermined and loss 2118 -------- 100

The sp. gr. of Smyrna opium is 1336.

The following chart, showing the natural alkaloids of opium and a few of their artificial derivatives, is taken from the 'Pharmacographia' of Messrs Fluckiger and Hanbury:--

+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+--+--+--+--+ C. H. N. O. Discovered by COTARNINE 12 13 1 3 Wohler, 1844 Formed by oxidising narcotine, soluble in water. Hesse, 1871 1. Hydrocotarnine 12 15 1 3 Crystallisable, alkaline, volatile at 100. Matthiesen and APORMORPHINE 17 17 1 2 Wright, 1869 From morphine by hydrochloric acid, colourless, amorphous, turning green by exposure to air, emetic. Wright, 1871 DESOXYMORPHINE 17 19 1 2 Serturner, 1816 2. Morphine 17 19 1 3 Crystallisable, alkaline, levogyre. Pelletier and 3. Pseudomorphine 17 19 1 4 Thiboumery, Crystallises with H_{2}O, does not unite even with 1835 acetic acid.

+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+--+--+--+--+ Discovered by C. H. N. O. Matthiesen and APOCODEINE 18 19 1 2 Burnside, 1871 From codeine by chloride of zinc; amorphous, emetic. Wright, 1871 DESOXYCODEINE 18 21 1 2 Robiquet, 1832 4. Codeine 18 21 1 3 Crystallisable, alkaline, soluble in water. Matthiesen and NORNARCOTINE 19 17 1 7 Foster, 1868 Thiboumery, 1835 5. Thebaine 19 21 1 3 Crystallisable, alkaline, isomeric with buxine. Hesse, 1870 THEBENINE 19 21 1 3 Hesse, 1870 THEBARCINE 19 21 1 3 From Thebaine or Thebenine by hydrochloric acid. Hesse, 1871 6. Protopine 20 19 1 5 Crystallisable, alkaline. Matthiesen and METHYLNORNARCOTINE 20 19 1 7 Foster, 1868 Hesse, 1871 DEUTEROPINE 20 21 1 5 Not yet isolated. Hesse, 1870 7. Laudanine 20 25 1 4 An alkaloid, which, as well as its salts, forms large crystals; turns orange by hydrochloric acid. Hesse, 1870 8. Codamine 20 25 1 4 Crystallisable, alkaline, can be sublimed; becomes green by nitric acid. Merck, 1848 9. Papaverine 21 21 1 4 Crystallisable, also its hydrochlorate; sulphate in sulphuric acid precipitated by water. Hesse, 1865 10. Rhadine 21 21 1 6 Crystallisable, not distinctly alkaline, can be sublimed; occurs also in Papaver Rhas. Hesse, 1865 RHAGENINE 21 21 1 6 From rhadine, crystallisable, alkaline. Armstrong, 1871 DIMETHYLNORNARCOTINE 21 21 1 7 Hesse, 1870 11. Meconidine 21 23 1 4 Amorphous, alkaline, melts at 58, not stable, the salts also easily altered. T. and H. Smith, 12. Cryptopine 21 23 1 5 1864 Crystallisable, alkaline, salts tend to gelatinise, hydrochlorate crystallises in tufts. Hesse, 1871 13. Laudanosine 21 27 1 4 Crystallisable, alkaline. Derosne, 1803 14. Narcotine 22 23 1 7 Crystallisable, not alkaline, salts not stable. Hesse, 1870 15. Lanthopine 23 25 1 4 Microscopic crystals, not alkaline, sparingly soluble in hot or cold spirit of wine, ether or benzol. Pelletier, 1832 16. Narceine 23 29 1 9 Crystallisable (as a hydrate), readily soluble in boiling water, or in alkalies, levogyre. +----------------+----------------------------------------------------+--+--+--+--+

? The following preparations, once famous, are now nearly obsolete in this country. Those that are made with cold water or by fermentation are supposed to be milder than crude opium, and in this respect to be similar to 'BLACK DROP,'

=Opium, Homberg's.= Opium exhausted by repeated coction in 10 or 12 times its weight of water, and the mixed liquors evaporated to one third, and kept boiling for 2 or 3 days, adding water from time to time, then straining and evaporating to a pilular consistence. BAUMe'S PURIFIED OPIUM is similar.

=Opium, Launcelotte's.= Opium, 1 lb.; quince juice, 1 gall.; pure pota.s.sa, 1 oz.; sugar, 4 oz.; ferment for some time, evaporate to a syrup, digest in rectified spirit, filter, and evaporate the tincture.

=Opium, Let'tuce.= Lactucarium.