Abstract
In the early decades of this century medicines were very simple, and of the many herbs, roots and barks that were used, few if any had their virtue attributed to any definite chemical that they contained. As early, however, as 1805, Sturner, a German pharmacist, isolated morphin from opium and termed it sel essentiale opii . The result of this epoch-making discovery was not to establish drug assaying, as would appear likely, but instead a great interest in the isolation of the alkaloids from drugs and the chemical study of these alkaloids. The leading pharmacists of the day were developing as chemists, and looked upon the problem of alkaloids from the chemical standpoint almost entirely. The problem was to isolate the alkaloid, determine its composition and, if possible, its constitution. Although medical men used the resulting alkaloids in their profession, it did not occur to any of the pharmacists of the
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