OPIUM. MEDICAL USKS Of. 



OPIUM TRADE. 



M 



reacts M an ci.i ; readily mrlu but does not appear to be volatile. 

 The lead an. I ulver aalU occur in thin shining prism* and flake*. 

 Sulpburuiu acid convert* it into opiato-ulpimmut acid (C w H,O,, 



S*l,Ju>fi*ic acid <C W H 10 O.S,) (Gerhardfi nJpkiJt of opianyl 

 i' u f I U produced on passing sulphuretted hydrogen into a 



aolution of opianic acid kept at a temperature of about 1 58* Fahr. It 

 crysUlU.es from alcohol in .lender needles. 



Opiammon (C M H lt NO.), (Uerhardt's nilriJt of opianyl and kydnyen 



u a pale yellow crystalline powder obtained on evapo- 



\ 

 *{ % H.O.) 



rating a solution of opianate of ammonia. Caustic potash partly con- 

 verts it into fanlMopcnie acid, 



I CH.O. 



Ttrofiammon (C..H.NO.), (Qerhardfs nitride of opianyl N C^H^O. 



I CJrI.0. 



f 2 HO) U formed when narcotine is acted upon by dilute nitric acid. 

 It rrr.tilli.es from boiling alcohol in thin colourless needles. 



ffmmgrnine ^.Hj-NjO-,) was the name given by Blyth to the base 

 in a platinum salt that he obtained after oxidising narcotine. It 

 appear* however to be merely a combination of the chloroplatiuates of 

 narcotine and cotomiue. 



AlaJiol-nulicul ilrriralirft of narcotinf. From the experiments of 



Wertheiin it would seem that narcotine <C M H U NO U ) contains ethyl ; 



be therefore represents its composition by the formula (C >? H n> (C 4 H l ) 



looks upon opianine (C M H tl NO l( ) as normal narcotine' ( C,.l I M 



i UNO,,), and has succeeded in obtaining a methyl derivative (C, 111 . 



. and a propyl derivative (C 4 ,H M (C.H.)N0 lt ). 

 i 'ircetne (C^H^O,,). Jfarceia, So called from rdpin), ftnpor. 

 From the lead with which it is combined in the precipitate already 

 mentioned, narceine is separated by sulphuretted hydrogen ; the filtrate 

 after evaporation to a syrupy consistence deposits silky crystals of 

 narceine. 



Narceine, purified by recrystallisation, occurs in colourless needles 

 soluble in boiling water and in alcohol, but insoluble in ether. It in 

 more fusible than morphine, or narcotine, and does not seem to be 

 poisonous. Concentrated sulphuric acid colours it intensely red, 

 changing to green on application of heat. Iodine gives it a deep blue 

 colour. It forms crystalline salts with most of the acids, though in 

 basic power it is somewhat feeble. The hydrochlvrate contains (C M H M 

 il('l). 



Purpkyrorin (from wofxt>vpn>t, purple, and *{i/i, acid) is, according to 

 Merck, another principle contained in opium. It is said to be a crys- 

 talline resin, and on its turning red when paper wetted with its ethereal 

 solution is exposed to warm hydrochloric acid, is founded a test for 

 the presence of opium in a compound mixture. 



Ptcudomorpkine (C,,H,,N0 1I f) is, according to Pelletier, occasionally 

 met with in opium. It somewhat resembles morphine but does not 

 form nalts, is not affected by iodic acid, and apparently is not 



: - v 



( 1 1 1 1 M , MED ICAL USES OF. [PAPAVER.] 



"PII'M TKAUE. The principal countries in which opium is pre- 

 pared are India, Turkey, and Persia. The poppy is cultivated in I'.irypt 

 and Arabia ; in Italy, France, and other part* of Europe ; but, with 

 slight exceptions, rather for the sake of its capsule and the oil extracted 

 from its seeds than for the inspissated juice. Indian opium is of 

 three kinds, of which the chief are Patna, grown in the province of 

 Balnr, and Benares, the former of which is most esteemed ; the third 

 kind, produced in the district of Malwa, is still leas esteemed than 

 that of Benares. The best Indian opium, however, is inferior to th.-it 

 of Turkey. Kor some time the quantity of opium produced and 

 brought to the Eastern markets from all parU was not equal to the 

 demand, and the Malwa and Turkish opium were introduced to supply 

 the deficiency. At first there was a strong prejudice against the latter. 

 The Turkey opium was introduced into the Indian Archipelago in 

 1815, and the merchants reluctantly consented to its constituting 

 one-fourth of the supply for the year ; but two years afterwards they 

 expressly stipulated for one-half, and in the following year for three- 

 fourths, although the price rose, while Indian opium was stationary. 

 A strong preference has also been shown in China for the Turkixh 

 opium, which has been introduced by the Americans. Several 

 thousand penons are engaged in the cultivation in Turkey ; they are 

 generally very poor, and the quantity annually brought to market 

 by each cultivator does not exceed one or two baskets. The annual 

 average produce of Turkey was estimated some years ago at about 

 half a million pounds. The whole quantity of land under the poppy 

 cultivation in India is said not to exceed 100,000 acres. Milourn 

 (' Oriental Commerce,' p. 224) gives the following account of the opium 

 monopoly, as maintained at a time when the East India Company 

 was at the height of its power : " The monopoly in the trade of 

 opium, or the cultivation of the poppy, may be traced at least as 

 far back as the commencement of the British influence in Bengal 

 The advantages resulting from it were for several years merely con- 

 sidered as a part of the emoluments of certain officers under the 

 government. In the year 1778 the trade was taken out of their 

 hands, and the profit assumed for the benefit of the Company. The 



provision of the article was for many years let out upon contract. 

 The opium trade continued under the direction of the Hoard of 

 Itevcmie till 17i*S, when it was trauKferred to the Board of Trade. On 

 the expiration of the contract*, in 17'.'7. the cultivation of opium wan 

 restricted to iiohar and Benares, and discontinued in Bengal : the mode 

 of provision by agency was resorted to, and still continues in practice. 

 In July, 179U, some regulations were published ' for the guidance of 

 all persons concerned in the provision of opium on the part of govern- 

 ment, and for preventing the illicit cultivation of the poppy and the 

 illicit importation or traffic in the article of opium.' Under these 

 regulations, which were further modified in 1807, the cultivation of the 

 poppy, except on account of government, is expressly forbidden ; but 

 it is left entirely at the option of the cultivator to enter into engage- 

 ments on account of government at a settled price, or to decline it 

 altogether." Of recent events in the opium trade we shall speak 

 presently. 



Opium is often adulterated with the pulverised leaves and stalks of 

 the poppy, which are mixed up into a mucilaginous mass with gum 

 arabic or some similar substance. In Sumatra the opium prepared for 

 smoking is frequently adulterated with pine-sugar, and crude opium 

 with the fruit of the pisang, or plantain. An engrossing taste for 

 opium pervades all classes in China, and has spread with astonishing 

 rapidity. From the superior classes, who were the first to practise it, 

 the habit of opium smoking has descended and become general. 

 " Worthless subordinates in offices and nefarious traders," says Sir J. 

 F. Davis, 'first introduced the abuse; young persons of family, 

 wealthy citizens, and merchants, adopted the custom ; until at last it 

 reached the common people. I have learned on inquiry, from scholars 

 and official persons, that opium smokers exist in all the provinces, 

 but the larger proportion of them are to be found in the government 

 offices ; and that it would be a fallacy to suppose that there are not 

 smokers among all ranks of civil and military officers below the station 

 of provincial governors and their deputies." Gutzlaff says of the 

 Chinese sailors, that most of them are smokers of opium, and that 

 when the weather is rough, and more than ordinary" attention ia 

 required from them, they turn in and intoxicate themselves with this 

 drug ; and on shore they indulge in smoking it until all their wages 

 are squandered. The tribes of the Indian Islands more frequently 

 smoke opium than eat or chew it. They in fact chew tobacco and 

 smoke opium, while the practice of the Turks and other people of 

 Asia is directly the reverse. Baffles states that in Sumatra the 

 opium prepared for smoking is used along the coast, whereas crude 

 opium is chewed by the people of the interior. On the west coast 

 of Celebes, the principal rajah and his family, and the various smaller 

 rajahs amongst whom the country ia divided, are the chief opium 

 smokers : persons of inferior rank not being able to command the 

 luxury. In some parts of India, opium is presented at visits and enter- 

 tainments in the same familiar manner as a snuff-box in Europe. The 

 prohibition of intoxicating liquors by the Mohammedan law has, it is 

 believed, encouraged the habit of taking opium ; and in consequence 

 of the Turks of the present day being far^lesa bigoted than formerly, 

 the consumption of opium is said to have declined with the more 

 frequent indulgence in wine and arrack. The habit is believed to be 

 more prevalent at present in Persia than in Turkey, though it is not 

 often carried to the same excess. In Europe opium is almost wholly 

 employed as a medicine ; it has been made in England from the native 

 poppy, but the cultivation is not likely at any time to become worthy 

 of attention on a large scale. The opium consumed in this country is 

 chiefly from Turkey. Opium in small quantities is a permanent article 

 of import from Italy and France ; occasionally, but in still less quan- 

 tities, it is imported from Russia, Germany, Holland, and P.. 

 rarely from India. Within the last few years Egypt has exported 

 opium to England, and the quantity has been yearly increasing. The 

 supply received from each country in liable to great fluctuations, on 

 account of the uncertainty of the crop. 



It is in the relations between India and China that the opium tr.ide 

 is moot important. Some authorities have stated that opium has 

 always been prohibited in China; but this does not appear to have 

 been the case. It was a legitimate branch of trade down to the close 

 of the last century, prohibitory regulations having been first made in 

 1796. From this period the trade has always been contraband; and 

 yet in little more than forty years the consumption of Indian opium 

 in China rose from 1000 to 27,000 chests per annum. Opium con- 

 stituted about one-half of the total value of P.ritish ini]>rt into 

 Canton just before the opening of other Chinese ports to the British. 

 Nothing but the extraordinary corruption of the Chinese authorities 

 can account for this increase of a trade prohibited by the lawn ; I ml 

 it is another proof of the difficulty of putting in force regulations 

 which are at variance with the popular habits and taste. Macao was 

 at first the centra of the Indian opium trade; but in 1802, in con- 

 sequence of the conduct of the Portuguese towards the British mer- 

 chants, the trade was removed to the island of Lintin. llen-the opium 

 was kept stored in armed ships, and delivered to the Chinese by 

 written orders from Canton, on the sale being concluded and the 

 money paid at that place. The price gradually fell, and the quantity 

 imported gradually increased. Imperial edicts were frequently issued 

 against opium dealers and smokers, but with little effect. There is 

 reason to believe that the Chinese government was less alarmed about 



