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DEVELOPMENT OE EITirai ON PATNA OPIUM, 14^ 



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TMote on the development of i'^gi upon Patna Opium. By the 



Eev. M. J, BeekElet, M.A; P.L.8. Ac. 



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[Read June 3rd, 1856.] 



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CoRDA has figured in his fifth Fasciculus a species of Periconia, 

 which was obsen^ed by Jauner on Opium fpom which the MorgUne 

 had been extracted. This, as far as I know, is the only recorded 



J^ instance of vegetation on that substance, though there w^ould be 



no reason for surprise, when moulds are developed so largely in 



I ttuneral poisons, if they should not be incapable of growth in vege- 



^ table poisons. The stems and capsules of Papaver somniferum 



nourish more than one parasite ; but it is probable, that in the. 



^ condition in which they are when the fungi make their appearance, 



% they contain very little opium. 



Specimens of the shell of opium cakes, consisting of the petals 

 01 Papaver somniferum^ agglutinated with an impure opium paste 

 known under the name of Lewah, have just been transmitted to 

 nie by Dr. Thomson, to whom they had been commimicated by 

 •t)r, Mackinnon from Patna, in consequence of an afiection to which 

 the opium cakes have been subject for the last year or more. One 

 specimen consists of shell from a very perfect cake, the other from 

 ft cake in an advanced state of decay. On examination of the 



lewah between the layers of petals, with dlfeguichloride of iron 



n*^ ; *^^re was little or no red tint in either. Both so far seemed to be 



1 «i the same condition. On examination with the microscope, tha 

 m . shell from the perfect cake exhibited a large quantity of poUen- 

 ^ ^ms attached to the surface, and abimdant myceHmn oiPeniciU 



htm^ with necklaces of spores of various sizes, but without any 

 symptoms of consequent decay. The shdl from the unsound cake 

 ^as much decomposed. It w^as infested with Aeariy whose eggs 

 ftiid dung were scattered about, mixed with a few pollen-grains. 

 There were abundant traces of the same FenicilUum^ but not in 

 so perfect a condition. There seemed also to be a mixture of the 

 spores of Aspergillus, with copious sporangia of Murotium Herha- 

 ^orum, which is now recognized as a form of the fruit of that 

 genus ; besides which, there were little heaps of white matter, 

 Consisting of minute bodies endowed with Brownian motion, and 

 numberless infant spores of some mould in various conditions, re- 

 «embling the Yeast fungus, and possibly an early stage of the 

 ^enicillivm or Aspergillus. In the former case mould was pre- 

 ^nt, but not in such abundance as to do mischief; in the latter 

 ^ould predominated, and was, I believe, the cause of the dete- 



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