In the year 1803, _Derosne_ first obtained from opium a crystalline substance, which he found to dissolve in acids, but he does not appear to have instituted many experiments, for the elucidation of its nature and properties. In 1804 _Seguin_ discovered another crystalline body, and although he described many of its properties, what appears very extraordinary, he never even hinted at its alkaline nature. _Sertuerner_, at Eimbeck in Hanover, had at the same time as _Derosne_ and _Seguin_, obtained these crystalline bodies, but it was not until the year 1817, that he first proclaimed the existence of a vegetable alkali, and attributed to it the narcotic powers which distinguish the operation of opium; to this body, he gave the name of _Morphia_, and it would appear to be the same as the essential salt of _Seguin_. The salt of _Derosne_ was also at first mistaken for the same principle, but the experiments of _Robiquet_ have pointed out its distinctive properties, and it has received the name of _Narcotine_. _Morphia_, upon which the soporific powers of opium depend, appears to exist in native combination with a peculiar acid, to which the name of _meconic_ acid has been bestowed. The following are the essential characters of this alkaline body, when procured in a state of purity.[417] It crystallizes in fine, transparent, truncated pyramids, the bases of which are either squares or rectangles, occasionally united base to base, and thereby forming octohedra. It is sparingly soluble in boiling water, but dissolves abundantly in heated alcohol, giving rise to an intensely bitter solution; in æther it is far less soluble. It has also the characters of an alkali; affecting test papers tinged with tumeric or violets, uniting with acids and forming neutral salts, and decomposing the compounds of acids with metallic oxides. It unites with sulphur by means of heat, but the combination is no sooner formed than it is decomposed. It fuses at a moderate temperature, when it resembles melted sulphur, and like that substance crystallizes on cooling; it is decomposed by distillation, yielding carbonate of ammonia, oil, and a black resinous residue, with a peculiar smell; when heated in contact with air, it inflames rapidly, and like vegetable matter, it leaves a carbonaceous residue. When analyzed by means of the deutoxide of copper, it yields carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the atomic proportions of which have not yet been ascertained. The nitric acid of commerce, when dropped on _morphia_, communicates to it a beautiful red colour. _Sertuerner_ has given us an account of the effect of the alcoholic solution of _morphia_ on himself, and three of his pupils; he found that repeated small doses of half a grain produced at first decided excitation; then weakness, numbness, and tendency to fainting; after swallowing vinegar while in this condition, violent vomiting was excited; in one delicate individual, profound sleep intervened, and on the following day he