PAPAVER SOMNIFERUM. 
Opium is more generally used than any other remedy. It 
is the inspissated juice of the white poppy. ‘The juice isa 
white, milky fluid, which oozes from the leaves, capsules, and 
stalks when they are slightly cut. 
The juice of the poppy, exposed for a few days to the sun 
and air, thickens into a stiff, tough mass, which is opium. 
The best kind of opium comes from Turkey. It has a pecu- 
liar heavy, disagreeable smell, and a bitter, nauseous, acrid, 
and warming taste. It is of a dark-brown color, and when 
reduced to powder, yellow. It is compact, solid, tenacious, 
and when broken has a shining fracture. The best part of it 
comes in flat pieces, covered with large leaves and reddish 
capsules of a species of rumex, probably used in packing it. 
The round masses without the capsules adhering to them are 
of an inferior quality. 
The East India opium is soft, ductile, and about the con- 
sistency of tar. It has something of a smoky smell, a darker 
color, and a more nauseous and bitter taste. It is supposed 
to be about half the strength of the Turkey opium. 
Opium is a powerful narcotic or inducer of sleep, and an 
astringent. No medicine has ever been discovered at all 
comparable to it in moderating and relieving pain, or in pro- 
moting sleep. It is soluble in alcohol, wine, vinegar, and 
water, though the last two afford but weak solutions of it. 
Its sedative virtue resides in a principle called morphia or 
morphine, =<" = 
A grain or two of opium taken into the stomach produces 
a remarkable composure of the mind, succeeded by a certain 
degree of languor and drowsiness ; the pulse becomes slower, 
fuller, and softer, all the secretions are in the first instance 
diminished, the motion of the bowels is retarded, the thirst 
increased, and the mouth dried. The heat of the body ap- 
pears to be increased and the senses rendered dull. In the 
course of three or four hours a perspiration is produced. 
‘The narcotic effect of a dose of opium lasts about eight 
hours, and in general a full dose of it cannot be given with 
safety oftener than three times in twenty-four hours. In 
_ eases of great pain and distress, it can be given much oftener 
nd in larger doses. ~ ; , 
The medium dose of opium is one grain, given in the form 
fa pill. It is often, however, given in doses of from one to 
three grains. It operates differently upon different individ- 
uals. In almost all diseases attended with pain, distress, and 
loss of sleep, opium is more or less used, and is found of 
essential service. In the commencement of inflammatory 
_ diseases it is deemed inadmissible, unless its use becomes 
_ unavoidable’ from the urgency of the pain and the entire 
waut of slee generally used in the form of laudanum 
