172 On cuUivaiing in Great Britain the Pdpaver somnifernm^ 



star, with a thin shce of the external rind round it (cc, fig. 10)$ 

 and by this last incision I obtain moie juice than from a scarifi- 

 cation upon the side of the head. 



It is my method of gathering the milky juice of the poppy in 

 the fluid state, that differs materially from any other that has been 

 used, and it is on that account that I have been more successful 

 than any other that has tried the experiment. 



In my communication to Dr. Duncan relative to Laclucarium 

 or Lettuce -opium, published in the second edition of his Obser- 

 vations on Pulmonary Consumption, I proposed to gather the 

 opium bv means of a sponge. But when I began to collect opium 

 in that wav, I soon found that it would not do ; for although the 

 sponge removes the juice more effectually than the flask proposed 

 by Dr. Howison, it cannot be agahi entirely expressed, because 

 the sponge decomposes or separates the component principles of 

 the niilkv juice, and the resinous part adheres to the sponge, and 

 soon clogs its pores. I therefore adopted the use of a small com- 

 mon hair-brush used by painters, and tnown to the trade by the 

 name of sashtool (PI. III. fig. 8.), which answers the purpose 

 most completely, and with which I gathered the milky juice, even 

 though some of the plants were laid by wind and rain, as well as 

 if they had been standing erect. I used a camel-iiair brush, but 

 found the same objection to it as to the sponge. The common 

 sash-tool, rounded a little at the point, without being ground, is 

 that which I prefer. 



For the sake of experiment, I exposed myself one morning to 

 a shower of rain for half an hour, while making the incisions and 

 gathering the opium, and succeeded as well as when there was 

 r.o rain, without anv other inconvenience than being wet, and 

 having an additional quantity of w^ater with the opium. 



When the brush is sufficiently charged with juice, 1 scrape it 

 off upon the slip of tin b, fig. 9, fixed in the mouth of a tin flask, 

 fastened to the breast of the gatherer by straps through the holes 

 a a, and capable of holding more than a day's gathering. 



The gatherers follow the bleeders immediately. One bleeder 

 will occupy two gatherers, and if he be very expert at using the 

 knife, he may keep three gatherers constantly employed. When 

 I performed both operations myself, I held the knife between the 

 thumb, fore and middle fingers, and the brush between the ring 

 and little fingers of the right hand, while I held the poppy by 

 the stalk with the left hand. 



The juice is afterwards formed into cakes or balls by sponta- 

 neous evaporation in shallow earthen dishes, placed in a close 

 rootn, stirring it occasionally during the evaporation of its watery 

 part, to be afterwards kept in bladders. 



The 



