[Henri Moissan and opium]

As professor of toxicology at the Ecole supérieure de pharmacie de Paris, Moissan analyzed the smoke of opium. He characterized morphine at 250 degrees C. This alkaloid was accompanied by pyrrole, acetone and pyridine derivatives at higher temperature. He concluded that the smoke of chandôo only brought small amounts of morphine in the smokers' lungs, whereas dross, obtained by scraping partly combusted residues of opium from the pipe bowls, generated toxic compounds since it had to be smoked at 300 degrees C.