Re: [DL] Laudanum

["Eric Young" <ecyoung@attbi.com>]

| One of my players chose "Hankerin': Laudanum", which is very appropriate
for the time and the |character (a female gunslinger turned undertaker with
medical experience).  Researching laudanum on the |Net, I've found that it's
used for pain management (which, for a gunslinger, makes perfect sense).
It's |also a mild hallucinogen and depressant, from what I've been able to
dig up on it.
|

Tinctura Opii (U. S. P.)-Tincture of Opium.
Related entry: Opium (U. S. P.)-Opium. (92 kB!)
Other tomes: AJP Apr 1871 - AJP Nov 1871

SYNONYMS: Laudanum, Tinctura meconii, Tinctura thebaica.

Preparation.-"Powdered opium, one hundred grammes (100 Gm.) [3 ozs. av., 231
grs.]; precipitated calcium phosphate, fifty grammes (50 Gm.) [1 oz. av.,
334 grs.]; water, four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl, 252];
alcohol, four hundred cubic centimeters (400 Cc.) [13 fl, 252]; diluted
alcohol, a sufficient quantity to make one thousand cubic centimeters (1000
Cc.) [33 fl, 391]. Rub the powders, in a mortar, with the water previously
heated to the temperature of 90° C. (194° F.), until a smooth mixture is
made, and macerate for 12 hours; then add the alcohol, mix thoroughly, and
transfer the whole to a cylindrical percolator. Return to the percolator the
first portion of the percolate, until it runs through clear, and, when the
liquid ceases to drop, gradually pour on diluted alcohol, continuing the
percolation slowly, until one thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl,
391] of tincture are obtained"-(U. S. P.).

History and Description.-This tincture is universally known in this and
other English-speaking countries as laudanum. It has been known throughout
Europe as Laudanum Liquidum Simplex, in contradistinction to solid opium
preparations, which were also called by the name laudanum, usually with some
qualifying term, as Laudanum Antihystericum, etc. Tincture of opium has a
deep red-brown color, and the characteristic odor and taste of opium. Lest
concentration take place, through evaporation of its alcohol, it should be
kept in securely-stoppered bottles. Each fluid drachm represents 5.7 grains
of dry opium, or 1 grain of opium in about 10.5 minims of the tincture.

In preparing this tincture, it is essential that well-dried opium should be
used, to insure a full-strength product, and it should be in a
finely-powdered form. The admixture with calcium phosphate aids in its
percolation, which could not otherwise be readily accomplished with diluted
alcohol. The percolate passes slowly, and about 60 per cent of the opium
constituents are obtained in solution by the use of the diluted alcohol. The
Pharmacopoeia directs the drug to be macerated 12 hours previous to
percolation. Twice that length of time, however, will better insure the
complete disintegration of the opium. After completion of the percolation,
water should abstract nothing from the dried residue, and only mere traces
of alkaloids, or their compounds, should be abstracted by diluted acids.

VALUATION.-"If 100 Cc. of tincture of opium be assayed by the process
immediately following, it should yield from 1.3 to 1.5 Gm. of crystallized
morphine"-(U. S. P.).

ASSAY OF TINCTURE OF OPIUM.-"Tincture of opium, one hundred cubic
centimeters (100 Cc.) [3 fl, 183] ammonia water, three and five-tenths cubic
centimeters (3.5 Cc.) [57]; alcohol, ether, water, each, a sufficient
quantity. Evaporate the tincture to about 20 Cc., add 40 Cc. of water, mix
thoroughly, and set the liquid aside for an hour, occasionally stirring, and
disintegrate the resinous flakes adhering to the capsule. Then filter, and
wash the filter and residue with water, until all soluble matters are
extracted, collecting the washings separately. Evaporate in a tared capsule,
first, the washings to a small volume, then add the first filtrate, and
evaporate the whole to a weight of 14 Gm. Rotate the concentrated solution
about in the capsule until the rings of extract are redissolved, pour the
liquid into a tared Erlenmeyer flask having a capacity of about 100 Cc., and
rinse the capsule with a few drops of water at a time, until the entire
solution weighs 20 Gm. Then add 10 Gm. (or 12.2 Cc.) of alcohol, shake well,
add 25 Cc. of ether, and shake again. Now add the ammonia water from a
graduated pipette or burette, stopper the flask with a sound cork, shake it
thoroughly during 10 minutes, and then set it aside, in a moderately cool
place, for at least 6 hours, or over night. Remove the stopper carefully,
and, should any crystals adhere to it, brush them into the flask. Place in a
small funnel 2 rapidly acting filters, of a diameter of 7 Cm., plainly
folded, one within the other (the triple fold of the inner filter being laid
against the single side of the outer filter), wet them well with ether, and
decant the ethereal solution as completely as possible upon the inner
filter. Add 10 Cc. of ether to the contents of the flask, rotate it, and
again decant the ethereal layer upon the inner filter. Repeat this operation
with another portion of 10 Cc. of ether. Then pour into the filter the
liquid in the flask, in portions, in such a way as to transfer the greater
portion of the crystals to the filter, and, when this has passed through,
transfer the remaining crystals to the filter by washing the flask with
several portions of water, using not more than about 10 Cc. in all. Allow
the double filter to drain, then apply water to the crystals, drop by drop,
until they are practically free from mother water, and afterward wash them,
drop by drop from a pipette, with alcohol previously saturated with powdered
morphine. When this has passed through, displace the remaining alcohol by
ether, using about 10 Cc., or more, if necessary. Allow the filter to dry in
a moderately warm place, at a temperature not exceeding 60° C. (140° F.),
until its weight remains constant, then carefully transfer the crystals to a
tared watch-glass and weigh them. The weight found represents the amount of
crystallized morphine obtained from 100 Cc. of the tincture"-(U.S. P.).

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.-This tincture, occasionally termed
Tinctura Thebaica, possesses the medicinal virtues of opium, and may be used
in all cases where the drug is indicated, in doses of from 5 to 30 drops
(see Opium (92 kB!)).

Related Preparations.-TINCTURA OPII ACETATA. If diluted acetic acid be
employed instead of water, it will form a much better tincture of opium, and
one less liable to vary in strength (TINCTURA OPII ACETATA, or Acetated
Tincture of Opium), and which may be given in the same doses as above. It
is, however, seldom prescribed at the present day. The U. S. P. (1870)
directed 2 troy ounces of dry-powdered opium to be macerated for 7 days in a
mixture of 8 fluid ounces of alcohol and 12 fluid ounces of distilled
vinegar; express and filter. Twenty fluid ounces are obtained. One grain of
opium is contained in each 10 minims.

TINCTURA OPII MURIATICA.-In a mixture of hydrochloric acid, 1 fluid ounce,
and water, 15 fluid ounces, macerate 1 ounce of powdered opium for 14 days,
and filter. Then add sufficient water to make 1 pint of tincture. No alcohol
is present. This is not quite half as strong as tincture of opium.

TINCTURA PAPAVERIS (N. F.), Tincture of poppy.-"Poppy capsules, freed from
seeds, and in coarse powder, five hundred grammes (500 Gm.) [1 lb. av., 1
oz., 279 grs.]; glycerin, one hundred and twenty-five cubic centimeters (125
Cc.) [4 fl, 109]; alcohol, water, of each, a sufficient quantity to make one
thousand cubic centimeters (1000 Cc.) [33 fl, 391]. Digest the poppy
capsules with three thousand cubic centimeters (3000 Cc.) [101 fl, 212] of
boiling water during 2 hours, then express and strain. Evaporate the
strained liquid to five hundred cubic centimeters (500 Cc. [16 fl, 435], mix
it with two hundred and fifty cubic centimeters (250 Cc.) [8 fl, 218] of
alcohol, and set the mixture aside, well covered, until it is quite cold.
Then filter, add the glycerin to the filtrate, and pass enough of a mixture
of two (2) volumes of water and one (1) volume of alcohol through the
filter, to make the product measure one thousand cubic centimeters (1000
Cc.) [33 fl, 391]. Each fluid drachm represents 30 grains of poppy (capsule)
freed from seeds"-(Nat. Form.).