4ra O N O P I U M. 



ly in milky drops, which may be either immediately col- 

 leded; orlufFered to dry on the ftalk, and then fcraped off 

 and depofited in proper veflels. If we obtain it by pref- 

 fure from the plant, and then infpiffate ; the other juices 

 feem to alter it confiderably: the colouring matter of the 

 vegetable is taken up, and the fmell of the opium no long- 

 er exifts ; at leaft this was the cafe with 30 grains of an ex- 

 trad procured thus, from 10 drachms of the plant, by Dr. 

 Cooper. It pofleiTed none of the peculiar fmell or tafte of 

 opium, and when I put it into a mixture of equal parts of 

 alkohol and water, it readily yielded the green colouring 

 principle, but nothing further. Probably more attention 

 to the fubjeft will lead to a method of feparating the opium 

 from the other principles united to it. Expofure to the fun 

 and air, may poffibly produce this effedt : the fmell of 

 the juice when firfl extrad;ed by preffure is ftrong of opi- 

 um. The extract above alluded to was infpiifated in a fand 

 bath, the heat of which may have been too confiderable. 

 for it. 



Having faid thus much upon the juice of the common 

 lettuce, I mud: obferve that all the fpecies contain it in a 

 larger or fmaller proportion. The la^nca fylvejlris^ or vi- 

 roja of Linnaeus, contains it moft abundantly. That from 

 which I obtained my opium, was, I obferved before, the 

 la£lucafativa; it abounds in juice, and will ferve the dou- 

 ble purpofe of cultivating for the table as well as for the 

 fliop. 



1 cannot avoid contrafling thefuperior advantages of the 

 opium extradled from the lettuce^ above that procured fi cm. 

 the poppy. 



Some judgment may be formed of the labour and expencc- 

 attendant upon the cultivation of one acre of the poppy, by 

 the account given by Mr. Kerr. He fays " an acre yields 

 in the Eaft Indies, 60 lbs. of opium, which, at 9 {hillings, 

 fterling, (a dollars) per pound, is X^.27 an acre." Now, 



at 



