Chap. 76.] THE WHITE AlfD BLACK POPPT. 277 



entering into the composition of eye-salves," and still less of 

 the preparations from it known as febrifuges,^ digestives, and 

 coeliacs : the black poppy, however, is very generally pre- 

 scribed, in wine, for coeliac affections. All the cultivated^ 

 poppies are larger than the others, and the form of the head 

 is round. In the wild poppy the head is elongated and small, 

 but it is possessed of more active" properties than the others in 

 every respect. This head is often boiled, and the decoction ot 

 it taken to promote sleep, the face being fomented also with 

 the water. The best poppies are grown in dry localities, and 

 where it seldom rains. 



When the heads and leaves of the poppy are boiled together, 

 the name given to the decoction is " meconium ;"^^ it is much 

 less powerful, however, in its effects than opium. 



The principal test^^ of the purity of opium is the smell, 

 which, when genuine, is so penetrating as to be quite insup- 

 portable. The next best test is that obtained by lighting it at 

 a lamp ; npon which it ought to burn with a clear, brilliant 

 flame, and to give out a strong odour when extinguished ; a 

 thing that never happens when opium has been drugged, for, 

 in such case, it lights with the greatest difficulty, and the 

 flame repeatedly goes out. There is another way of testing 

 its genuineness, by water ; for, if it is pure, it will float like a 

 thin cloud upon the surface, but, if adulterated, it will unite in 

 the form of blisters on the water. But the most surprising 

 thing of all is the fact, that the sun's heat in summer furnishes 

 a test ; for, if the drug is pure, it will sweat and gradually 

 melt, till it has all the appearance of the juice when fresh 

 gathered. 



Mnesides is of opinion that the best way of preserving 

 opium is to mix henbane seed with it ; others, again, recom- 

 mend that it should be kept with beans. 



6i "Collyriis." 



^^ *' Lexipyretos," " pepticas," and •' coeliacas" — Greek appellations. 



^^ The type of the cultivated poppy is the Papaver somniferuru of 

 Linnaeus. 



^'' This, Fee says, is a matter of doubt. 



"* From fiijKOJv^ a "poppy." Tourncfort has described this kind of 

 opium obtained by dt;coction ; it is held in little esteem. 



^^ Fee remarks, tliat this account of the tests of opium is correct in the 

 extreme. 



