Christie factlet

A few weeks ago, as followers of ITV3 will be aware, there was a screening of an adaptation of  'Sad Cypresses', a screening which moved me to read the original text, luckily included in our near complete edition of Agatha Christie from Heron Books (see 24th November last).

A reading which turned up some interesting gen on morphine and I was prompted today to inquire further of Professor Google.

It turns out that the formula for morphine makes it look like a cross between petrol and sugar with a small dose of nitrogen thrown in to make up the mix: C17H19NO3. Or maybe petrol nitrate would be nearer the mark. If we then subtract one molecule of water we get C17H17NO2, something called apomorphine. Apomorphine has various uses, one seemingly being as a primitive version of viagra. Contrariwise, another arises from its powerful emetic effect, which means that if you take a lethal dose of morphine plus an appropriate dose of apomorphine a little later, perhaps during an innocent looking call to nature, the overall effect is that you vomit but that is about all. This wheeze providing a way for a murderer to share the morphine poisoned meal with his or her intended victim, thus escaping the hangman. Until, that is, that Poirot's grey cells kick in.

Fiddle around a bit more and you get diamorphine or C21H23NO5, known to doctors and druggies alike.

So many interesting effects from juggling around with carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. It all goes to show that the formula alone is likely to mislead. Or that a little knowledge is dangerous.

But oddly, Professor Google is very wobbly on where the 'gen' used above might come from. He is clear enough about what the word is usually used to mean and suggests that it might be second world war RAF slang, but with nothing like the aplomb he brings to heroin.