Note 586 — PHARMACOLOGIA. (continued 5)

Sertuerner at Eimbeck, in Hanover, had at the same time as Derosne and Seguin, obtained these crystalline bodies, (Ann. de Chim. et de Phy. T. v.) but it was not until the year 1817, that he first unequivocally proclaimed the existence of a vegetable alkali, and assigned to it the narcotic powers which distinguish the operation of opium; to this body he gave the name of Morphia, and it appears to be the same as the essential salt noticed by Seguin. The salt of Derosne, now more usually denominated Narcotine, is quite a different principle, although it was constantly mistaken for one of the salts of Morphia, till M. Robiquet (Ann. de Chim. & de Phy. T. v.) pointed out its distinctive properties. It is an azotized substance, crystallizing in beautiful pearly prisms or tables; soluble in fixed oil, and still more so in æther and the acids; insoluble in water, and little soluble in alcohol; destitute of action on the vegetable colours, and incapable of neutralizing acids. There still exists, however, very considerable confusion with respect to this salt, and farther experiments are required to ascertain its chemical nature, as well as its physiological action.