332 On the Cultivation of the Poppy. 
the poppy renders it totally unfit to be taken inwardly? 
This, it is allowed, is, in appearance, a very formidable ob 
jection ; and, as it respects the lives of multitudes, it ought 
not to be treated with levity: the objection itself, and the 
argument from analogy on’ which it is founded, ought: to bé 
completely confuted before the article can be recommended 
to the community in this novel point of view. | iia 
We might observe that the objection is solely founded 
upon very ‘slight and imperfect analogy. It assumes, that, 
because some parts of a plant are noxious, the whole must 
be equally noxious. Bat this assumption may be con- 
futed in numberless instances. Daily experience testifies 
that different parts of plants possess not only different, but 
opposite qualities. Oranges and lemons, which are used in 
profusion, possess juices that are both palatable and refri- 
gerating; but these are inclosed in a rind, the essential oil © 
of which is extremely acrid and stimulating: and it is well 
known that the bland and nutritive tapioca is the produce of 
a tree whose roots are highly poisonous. In this case, there- 
fore, the argument from analogy may be considered as a very 
proper motive for caution ; but if it advances further, it de- 
generates into a pernicious prejudice. 
There have been, however, many incidental circumstances 
which have had a partial influence in removing these preju- 
dices. It is well known that compounders of aneere have 
made a very liberal use of the seeds of poppies, as substi- 
tutes for the oil of sweet almonds, without the least detri- 
ment to the patient. They have sometimes imputed to it 
additional virtues, from its being supposed to possess nar- 
cotic properties. But that they have erred in their hypo-* 
thesis is plain, from the practice of many individuals who 
have made the seeds of poppies a common article of food *. 
> But it will be the principal object of the following paper 
to inform the inhabitants of this country, through the me- 
dium of your publication, that the above objection has been 
repeatedly advanced and repeatedly confuted ; that experi~ 
ments, first made with a degree of caution, have finally re~ 
* See Prosper Alpinus, lib. iv. capsi. Geofrey Mat. Med, tom, ii p. 715. 
Lewis's Materia Medica, article Papaver album. 
moved 
