OPIUM OPODELDOC. 



307 



went, in 1621, to the court of the duke of Liegnitz ; 

 whence, in about a year, he re moved, to become pro- 

 fessor of philosophy and classical literature at the 

 university of Weissenburg, then newly founded by 

 Bethlen Gabor. The situation proving unpleasant, 

 he soon returned to Bunzlau, and afterwards to Lieg- 

 nitz. Becoming distinguished for his talents, he 

 went to Vienna, where the emperor Ferdinand II. 

 bestowed on him the poetical crown, and afterwards 

 gave him letters of nobility, when he assumed the 

 title of von Doberfeld. He returned to Silesia, and 

 became secretary to the burgrave of Dohna ; but, on 

 losing his patron by death, he entered anew into the 

 service of the duke of Liegnitz. At length he was 

 appointed secretary and historiographer to the king 

 of Poland, and passed the last five years of his life at 

 Dantzic, where he died August 20, 1639. Among 

 his works are a poem on mount Vesuvius, Silvae, 

 Epigrams, &e. Opitz was the creator of a new and 

 more correct poetical style in Germany, founded on 

 the model of the ancient classics, and of a form of 

 versification accommodated to rules of prosody, and 

 resting on the measure of syllables, and not their 

 number. He was well acquainted with the ancients, 

 and had stored his mind with useful knowledge, so 

 that his poems, especially the larger ones, are rich in 

 thought and invention. The language is indebted to 

 him for new connexions and forms, greater smooth- 

 ness and correctness, expressiveness, and euphony. 



OPIUM ; the inspissated juice of a species of 

 poppy (papaver somniferum), a native, originally, of 

 the East, but now naturalized throughout the greater 

 part of Europe. The root of this plant is annual, 

 giving out a stem from two to four feet high, which, 

 as well as the leaves, is glaucous. The flowers are 

 terminal, white or light gray, and three or four inches 

 in diameter : in the wild plant they are provided with 

 only four petals, but in the double varieties the petals 

 are very numerous, and vary in colour from white to 

 red and to deep violet, with a hundred intervening 

 shades. The capsules contain a prodigious number 

 of seeds. It is found in most gardens as an orna- 

 mental plant, and is, besides, cultivated extensively 

 in many parts of Europe, but only for the sake of the 

 oil which is obtained from the seeds. It is from the 

 East, from different parts of the Turkish empire, and 

 from Hindoos tan, that the opium of commerce is 

 chiefly procured. The finest opium is obtained by 

 making longitudinal incisions in the green capsules 

 in the evening ; the milky juice which flows out is 

 suffered to remain till the following evening to acquire 

 consistence, when it is removed, and the process re- 

 peated. When the seeds are the sole object, the time 

 of sowing is in the autumn, and at the end of the fol- 

 lowing July or beginning of August, the crop is ready 

 for harvesting : before cutting off the capsules, it is 

 better to shake them on cloths spread for the pur- 

 pose ; or, if this precaution is not taken, they should 

 be removed with great care, keeping them always 

 in an upright position until they are placed in sacks ; 

 otherwise a portion of the seed will be lost the cap- 

 sules should then be exposed to the air to complete 

 their desiccation, and the seed, after being separated, 

 should be kept in a dry place. The oil has an 

 agreeable taste, and, after olive-oil, is esteemed the 

 best for culinary purposes. In Germany and the 

 Netherlands, it is almost the only kind used. The 

 seeds, after being roasted and prepared in various 

 manners, were employed by the Romans in making 

 several sorts of cakes and dainties ; and this custom 

 is still prevalent in some parts of the north of 

 France. 



Opium is the most energetic of narcotics, and at 

 the same time one of the most precious of all medi- 

 cines, and is employed in the greatest variety of cases. 



It is invaluable in procuring relief from pain at all 

 times, and is an efficient remedy in choleras, spasmodic 

 affections, convulsions, tetanus, neuralgias, &c. , &c. 

 It is most commonly employed for the purpose of 

 procuring sleep ; but its habitual use is attended with 

 similar, if not worse effects, than the abuse of ardent 

 spirits. A full dose is intoxicating and exhilarating; 

 but, if taken in large quantities, it produces danger- 

 ous and fatal effects. An emetic should be immedi- 

 ately resorted to in such cases. Laudanum is a 

 liquid preparation of opium, made with alcohol, and 

 is similar in its effects on the human system. Mad- 

 den, in his travels in Turkey, &c., speaking of the 

 opium eaters of Constantinople, whom he saw in a 

 coffee-house frequented by them, says, " Their ges- 

 tures were frightful ; those who were completely 

 under the influence of the opium talked incoherently; 

 their features were flushed; their eyes had an unna- 

 tural brilliancy, and the general expression of their 

 countenances was horribly wild. The effect is usually 

 produced in twb hours, and lasts four or five. The 

 dose varies from three grains to a drachm. The de- 

 bility, both moral and physical, attendant on its 

 excitement, is terrible ; the appetite is soon destroyed, 

 and every fibre in the body trembles ; the nerves of 

 the neck become affected, and the muscles get rigid: 

 several I have seen in this place who had wry necks 

 and contracted fingers, but still cannot abandon the 

 custom. They are miserable till the hour arrives for 

 taking their daily dose." 



The opium of commerce is in masses of different 

 sizes. It is somewhat hard, of a brown colour, and 

 a bitter, acrid, and nauseous taste. Its odour is 

 peculiar and characteristic. It softens with a gentle 

 heat, and, when more heated in the air, it kindles, but 

 does not burn readily. It contains acidulous mecon- 

 ate of morphia, extractive matter, mucilage, fecula, 

 resin, fixed oil, caoutchouc, a vegeto-animal sub- 

 stance, debris of vegetable fibres, occasionally a little 

 sand, and small white pebbles, together with the 

 white crystalline salt of opium, now known under the 

 name of narcotine. If we treat opium first with 

 abundance of ether, a tincture of a deep yellow shade 

 is obtained, from which there gradually falls a pow- 

 der, insoluble in water, alcohol and ether, and, when 

 distilled, it affords a considerable quantity of ammonia. 

 The ethereous tincture, freed from this yellowish 

 powder, yields, on evaporation, crystals impregnated 

 with a viscid oil, among which small masses, of more 

 consistence, are seen to float. These are caoutchouc, 

 which may be separated from the oil by a fine tube. 

 The oily liquid is to be decanted, in order to insulate 

 the crystals, which are then treated with boiling 

 alcohol. On cooling, this affords the narcotine, 

 slightly impregnated with caoutchouc. From this a 

 new solution frees them completely. Hence, by this 

 process, are eliminated four different products : 1. a 

 fixed oil ; 2. caoutchouc ; 3. a vegeto-animal sub- 

 stance ; 4. narcotine. The opium, after being thus 

 exhausted by ether, when dissolved in water, affords 

 solutions equally acid as ordinary opium, and which 

 comport themselves with magnesia or ammonia, as 

 if no ether had been applied to it. (See Morphia.) 

 It is obvious, therefore, that the two crystalline 

 bodies, narcotine and morphia, exist in opium quite 

 independent of each other. In the eighth and ninth 

 volumes of the Journal of .Science of the Royal Insti- 

 tution of Great Britain, and in the first volume of the 

 Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, are two valuable 

 papers on the manufacture of opium. According to 

 Orfila, a dangerous dose of opium is rather aggravat- 

 ed than counteracted by vinegar. The proper remedy 

 is a powerful emetic, such as sulphate of zinc, or 

 sulphate of copper. 



OPODELDOC ; a solution of sonp and alcohol, 

 u 2 



