754 MECANOPSIS. [CLASS XIII. ORDER j. 



nervous system ; and from the investigations of Jf. Charret it is poison- 

 ous to all classes of animals, and that it produces three leading effects. 

 1. \i acts on the brain, causing congestion, and consequent sopor. 2. 

 On the general nervous centre as an irritant, producing convulsions ; 

 and 3. On the muscles as a direct sedative. A small dose of opium in 

 many persons is stimulating, producing an increased action of. the 

 heart and arteries, and a slight sense of fullness in the head. As a 

 stimulus, however, it acts very differently in different individuals, and 

 when administered in poisonous doses it causes giddiness and stupor; 

 but rarely in such cases produces any previous stimulus : the stupor 

 increases, loss of motion and insensibility shortly follow, breathing is 

 more slowly performed, the pupils are contracted, and the expression 

 of the countenance is that of deep repose, but in a few hours it becomes 

 pale and ghastly, the features are contracted, the muscles of the whole 

 frame greatly relaxed, the pulse is feeble, becoming imperceptible, and 

 death ends the scene, unless timely assistance is procured, and the 

 opium removed from the stomach by means of the stomach-pump, or 

 emetics, of which the sulphate of zinc in doses of half a drachm or 

 two scruples, and repeated at intervals, if needful, after which the 

 patient must be kept constantly roused by moving him about between 

 two men, and occasionally dashing cold water upon the head and 

 breast, or injecting it into the ears. The occasional use of ammonia 

 applied to the nose, or other stimulants, and taken internally in small 

 doses, or camphor, &c., are all useful when judiciously administered; 

 infusion of coffee and lemon juice have both been found useful after 

 the opium has been entirely removed from the stomach. For a full 

 account of opium, the symptoms produced by its use, antidotes, tests, 

 &c., we must refer to Dr. Christison's Treatise on Poisons, the London 

 Dispensatory, &c. 



GENUS II. MECANOP'SIS.— ViGuiER. Welsh Poppy. 



Nat. Ord. Papayera'ce^. De Cand. 



Gen. Char. Calyx of two caducous pieces. Petals four. Stigma 

 slightly elevated, of few rays. Capsule opening at the top, by 

 from four to six valves. Seeds numerous, small, attached to fili- 

 form receptacles. — Named from fi^ijcwv, a Poppy ; and o>J/i?, 

 resemblance ; from its resemblance to the Poppy. 

 1. M. Cambrica, Vig. (Fig. 856.) Common Welsh Poppy. Capsule 

 smooth ; leaves pinnated, cut, mostly petiolated. 



De Cand. Prod. 1. p. 120. — Hooker, British Flora, ed, 4. vol. i. p. 

 212. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 17. — Papaver cambricum, Linn. — English 

 Botany, t. 66. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 12. 



Root tapering, branched. Stem erect, from one to two feet high, 

 round, simple, or branched, leafy, smooth, or scattered over with a few 



