and. of preparing Opium from it. 169 



it is of no conseqnence whether it be taken from the one or from 

 the other. Dr. Crump also observes that the wliite variety is to 

 be preferred, as 'affording opium in greater quantity than any of 

 the rest, and tliere can be no doubt that this poppy yields the 

 largest and most juicy heads. 



Dr. Howison has stated that 200,000 lb. of opium are made 

 annually in Bengal ; and that notwithstanding all the care that 

 is taken in collecting it, one-third of the crop is lost ; but there 

 is reason to believe that the waste is much greater than he sup- 

 poses. For in whatever way the incisions are made, the milky 

 juice instantly flows in a wasteful stream, and by running upon 

 the ground or upon the leaves, one-third of the crop at least must 

 be lost before the gathering commences in the morning. In this 

 climate, he remarks, where the serenest day is often followed by 

 a night of deluging rain, the adoption of the Bengal method would 

 be worse than trusting our fortune to the chance of a lottery. 



Although Dr. Howison was convinced that the juice of the 

 poppy tmdergoes no change in its properties by exposure to the 

 air, further than acquiring a greater consistence from the evapo- 

 ration of its watery part, he states in another place, that in Ben- 

 gal, where there is no rain during the opium-gathering season, 

 the custom of allowing the milk to thicken, by remaining for 

 some time on the capsule, is highly judicious. While, in another 

 part of his account, he admits that that custom is the only rea- 

 son why they lose one-third of their crop. 



Supposing that 200,000 lb. of opium give the East India Com- 

 pany 100,000/. sterling annually, by Dr. Howison's account they 

 lose more than 30,000/. But were the loss only to amount to 

 half that sum, sufficient importance, it is to be supposed, would 

 be attached to the means by which such a saving could be ef- 

 fected. 



Mr. Kerr states, that there are about 600,000 lb. of opium 

 annually exported from the Ganges, independent of what is con- 

 sumed in the interior. He also states, that it is frequently mixed 

 with cow-dung, with the extract obtained by boiling the plants, 

 and with other additions which are kept secret. It is, indeed, 

 frequently so much adulterated, that considerable quantities are 

 burnt at Calcutta by order of the government. 



In the summer of 1817, I cultivated a small field of poppies, 

 containing about 20,000 jilants of the Papaver somnifertim of 

 Linnaeus, out of which I selected two beds, measursing one fall 

 and fourteen squiue yards, for the purpose of ascertaining what 

 quantity of opium it would produce. I collected the opium from 

 that part selected for the experiment myself, while the rest of 

 the crop was gathered by the people I employed. I collected as 

 much of the milky juice as was equal to one drachm of solid 



o))iuin 



