460 



ORCHELLA WEEDS 



The following list contains most of the varieties of opium known in commerce : 



Indian opium. Benares, Malu-a, 



and Patna. 

 English opium. 

 French and German opium. 



Smyrna opium, from Turkey or 



the Levant. 

 Constantinople opium. 

 Egyptian opium. 

 Trebizond opium, Persian opium. 



See Watts's ' Dictionary of Chemistry.' 



Our Consul in China, reporting on the opium trade, says that the use and abuse of 

 opium are much exaggerated. Taking the total import into China at 12,800,000 Ibs. 

 in the year, what is that for a population numbering about 400,000,000 ? He states 

 that the use of opium is confined to narrower limits than is generally supposed ; and 

 excess in its consumption is the exception, not the rule. To confirmed smokers it 

 becomes a necessity of existence ; by others it is regarded as a luxury. Mr. Hughes, 

 British Consul at Hankow, gives the Chinese credit for a growing preference of the 

 native opium on account of its mildness, which makes it easier to give up its use tempo- 

 rarily, or abandon it altogether, without serious effect upon the health. He says the 

 production of native opium is very considerable ; and his colleague, M. Blancheton, 

 after a visit to Szechuen, estimates the nett value of all the opium grown in that pro- 

 vince at about 35,000,000 taels sycee (the Hankow tael averages a fraction over 6s.); 

 but the figures are given as ' anything but certain.' Mr. Morgan, Consul at Tient-sin, 

 thinks there are some grounds for anticipating that the prohibitory edict will 

 be executed more efficiently than others which have preceded it ; and Acting-Consul 

 Harvey, at Newchwang, reports that in that province" the action of the authorities in 

 enforcing the prohibition of the growth of opium has lessened the production, and 

 raised the price nearly to that of foreign opium. 



OPOBALSA1M is the balsam of Peru in a dry state. See BALSAM OF PERU. 



OPOPONAX. This is a gum-resin ; the dried milky juice which exudes by in- 

 cision from the root of the parsnip-like plant Opoponax Chironium ; this plant is 

 found abundantly growing wild in Macedonia and Sicily. 



The gum was formerly used in medicine. Eeferring to the plant, Dioscorides 

 names it Panax Herculeum, from Hercules, who was supposed to have discovered it. 

 In his time it was one of the three celebrated panacea or universal medicines ; at ;v 

 later period it was not administered internally, but was in general use in the form 

 of an ointment for the cure cf wounds. So recently as fifty years ago it was one 

 of the standard drugs of the apothecary, but then chiefly employed in the form of 

 a plaster. 



OPUS ALEXANDRXUIVI. A mosaic pavement, consisting of geometric figures 

 in black and red tesserae on a white ground. 



ORANGE. A well-known fruit. See CITRUS. 



ORANGE-CHROMED A subchromate of lead ; a fine orange-coloured pigment. 

 which is very durable. See CHROMATES OF LEAD. 



ORANGE-BYE is given by a mixture of red or yellow dyes in various propor- 

 tions. Arnotto alone dyes orange ; but it is a fugitive colour. 



ORCHEXiXiA WEEDS. The cylindrical and flat species of Boccella used in the 

 manufacture of Orchil or Archil, and Cudbear, are so called by the makers. 



The following list of orchella weeds is given by Pereira : 



Angola orchella, Boccella fucifor- 



mis. 



Madagascar orchella, E. fuciformis. 

 Mauritius orchella. 

 Canary orchella, R. tinctoria. 

 Cape de Verd orchella, E. tinctoria. 

 Azore orchella, E. tinctoria. 

 Madeira orchella, B. tinctoria and 



E. fuciformis. 



Lima orchella, large and round, 7?. 



tinctoria. 

 Lima orchella, small and flat, E. 



fuciformis. 

 Cape of Good Hope orchella. E. 



hypomccha. 



Barbary orchella, E. tinctoria. 

 Corsican and Sardinian orchella, 



E. tinctoria. 



Dr. Pereira says : ' Mr. Harman Visger, of Bristol, informs me that every lichen 

 but the best orchella weed is gone, or rapidly going, out of use ; not from dete- 

 rioration of their quality, for, being allowed to grow, they are finer than ever, but 

 because the Angola weed is so superior in quality, and so low priced and abun- 

 dant, that the product of a very few other lichens would pay the expense of manu- 

 facture.' 



In the ' Philosophical Transactions ' for 1848, Dr. Stenhouse has a valuable paper 

 on the colouring-matters of the lichens. From it wo extract his directions for 

 estimating the colouring-matter in lichens by means of a solution of hypochlorite 

 of lime: 



