ce hey et 
;  PAPAVERACE®. 87 
- Smyrna opium. Poppy capsules as found in Indian commerce 
are much broken, and appear to have been beaten to extract 
the seeds, the fragments are marked by triple or quadruple - 
incisions, usually longitudinal, but sometimes transverse. The ~ 
seeds are reniform, very small, usually white, but sometimes 
grey, a little over one millimetre long. The testa is composed 
a of six-sided scale-like cells, the albumen is oily, and encloses ~ 
a curved embryo composed of two cotyledons and a radicle of 
equal length, the taste is sweet and oily. 
eS oe ies iu elie ie 
_- Poppy oil is of a pale golden colour, inodorous, of agreeable 
4 flavour and soluble in 25 parts of cold and 6 of boiling alcohol. 
_ Its chemicalconstitution is similar to linseed oil ; saponification 
equivalent 290. Its specifie gravity is ‘924 to 927 at 15°5 C.; 
it solidifies at —18° C.; does not easily become rancid; the oi 
rom 4 Ibs. of seed. It is used as a substitute for olive oil by the 
ilitary Medical Establishments, but being a drying oil it is 
not nearly so well suited for medicinal use as the oil of Arachis 
hypogea. It is also used to adulterate olive oil. 
Microscopic structure—Opium of good quality, macerated in — 
glycerine, shows numerous prismatic crystals, some of them — 
in tufted bundles; a few large, refractive globular bodies are 
- seen which have a resinous appearance, and here and there 
‘Cheniical composition. —The alkaloids _ 7h: 
= from caacomae are Hydroco 1 
