228 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



even four hours, is sufficient materially to decrease the 

 returns. Now the patience of the Turks, most patient 

 of all people, is taxed to the utmost. The entire popu- 

 lation, men, women, boys and girls, turn to the harvest. 



Carefully the workers pass through the fields, and 

 with a knife that bears a fine saw-edge they artfully 

 incise the ripening heads, making their incision around 

 the circumference of the capsule, encircling it to within 

 half an inch of the starting point. About Harput, and 

 perhaps in other districts, the natives employ a knife 

 having three parallel blades, with which they cut several 

 short, diagonal gashes, just above the belly of the cap- 

 sule. The incising is a very delicate operation, re- 

 quiring both care and expertness, for should the knife 

 pierce into the interior of the poppy capsule, the exuding 

 juice seeps inward, and is lost. The aim is to pierce 

 only the pericarp, that carries the lactiferous cells. 



When the climate is fair, the location elevated, the 

 wind from the north and cool, and the soil dry, the in- 

 cisions are made after sunset, the exuding juice being 

 gathered early the next morning. But should there be 

 either dew or rain, there is no yield whatever. 



On low ground where dew prevails, the incisions are 

 made early in the morning, the "tears" of opium gum 

 being scraped from the capsule that day, from eleven 

 o'clock to sunset. 



IMPLEMENTS. The blade of the incising knife is 

 about two inches long, one edge being straight, with 

 small, saw-teeth, the other being egg-shaped, sharp and 

 pointed. This knife is called Dgeezguee (pronounced 

 geez-gee). The saw-edge of the knife is used to incise 

 the capsule, the opposite edge to scrape from the cap- 

 sule the exuded gum. As this accumulates, the natives 



