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PAPAVERACE.E. I. PAPAVER. 



when used to adulterate the genuine opium. The heads are 

 gathered as they ripen, and as this happens at different times, 

 there are annually three or four gatherings. They are brought 

 to market in bags, each containing about 3000 heads and sold to 

 the druggists. The London market is chiefly supplied from 

 Mitcham in Surrey. The heads or capsules possess anodyne pro- 

 perties ; they are chiefly employed boiled in water, as fomentations 

 to inflamed and ulcerated surfaces, and the syrup prepared from 

 them with inspissated decoction, is used as an anodyne for chil- 

 dren, and to allay the tickling cough in chronic catarrh and phthisis. 

 A strong decoction of the dried heads, mixed with as much sugar 

 as is sufficient to reduce it to the consistence of a syrup, becomes 

 fit for keeping in a liquid form, and is the only officinal prepar- 

 ation of the poppy. It is, however, a very unequal preparation, 

 as the real quantity of opium it contains is very uncertain ; as a 

 medicine it is by no means equal to syrup, to which a certain 

 quantity of solution of opium is added. The seeds of the poppy 

 are simply emulsive, and contain none of the narcotic principle. 

 They yield a considerable quantity of oil by expression. 



The milky juice of the poppy in its more^ierfect state, which 

 is the case in warm climates only, is extracted by incisions made 

 in the capsules and inspissated ; and in this state forms the opium 

 of commerce. The mode of obtaining it seems to have been 

 nearly the same in the time of Dioscorides, as is at this day 

 adopted. The plants, during their growth, are carefully watered 

 and manured, the watering being more profuse as the period of 

 flowering approaches, and until the capsules are half grown, 

 when it is discontinued, and the collection of the opium commences. 

 At sunset longitudinal incisions are made upon each half-ripe 

 capsule, passing below upwards and not penetrating to the in- 

 ternal cavity. The night dews favour the exudation of the juice, 

 which is collected in the morning by women and children, who 

 scrape it from ofF the wounds with a small iron scoop, and de- 

 posit the whole in an earthen pot, where it is worked by wooden 

 spatules in the sunshine, until it attains a considerable degree of 

 thickness. It is then formed by the hand into cakes which are 

 laid in earthen basins to be further exsiccated, when it is covered 

 over with poppy or tobacco leaves. Such is the mode followed 

 in India, and according to Ksempfer's account, nearly the same is 

 practised in Persia ; and when the juice is drawn in a similar 

 manner in this country, and inspissated, it has all the characters 

 of pure opium. 



Two kinds of opium are found in commerce, distinguished 

 by the names of Turkey and East Indian opium. The Turkey 

 opium is a solid compact perfectly transparent substance, of 

 moderate specific gravity, possessing a considerable degree of 

 tenacity, yet somewhat brittle, if half cut through ; the sec- 

 tion dense and a little shining ; of a dark brown colour, 

 becoming softer by the heat of the fingers, with difficulty 

 reduced to powder, unless in the cold, after having been long 

 dried in small pieces. Powder of a light brown, and readily 

 plastic when baked together ; when moistened marking on paper 

 a light brown interrupted streak, scarcely colouring the saliva 

 when chewed, at least only tinging it of a greenish colour, and 

 rendering it frothy, exciting at first a nauseous bitter taste, which 

 soon becomes acrid with some degree of warmth, and having a 

 peculiar disagreeable smell. The best kind of opium is in flat 

 pieces ; and besides the large leaves in which they are enve- 

 loped, they are covered with the reddish capsules of a species 

 of Rumex used in packing it. The round masses which have 

 none of the capsules adhering to them are evidently inferior in 

 quality. Opium is bad if it is soft or friable, mixed with any 

 impurities, hare an intensely dark or blackish colour, a weak 

 smell, a sweetish taste, or draws upon paper a brown continuous 

 streak. The East Indian opium has much less consistence, 

 being sometimes not thicker than tar, and always ductile. Its 



colour is much darker ; its taste more nauseous and less bitter, 

 and its smell rather empyreumatic. When imported it is con- 

 siderably cheaper than Turkey opium, and is supposed to be only 

 half the strength. One-eighth of the weight is allowed for the 

 enormous quantity of leaves with which it is enveloped. In the 

 East Indies when opium is not good enough to bring a certain 

 price, it is destroyed under the inspection of public officers. 

 No opium of this kind is now brought to Europe. Mr. Ker 

 relates that at Bahar it is frequently adulterated with cow-dung, 

 the extract of the poppy procured by boiling and various other 

 substances. In Malava it is mixed with oil of Sesamum, which 

 is often one half of the mass ; ashes and dried leaves of the plant 

 are also used. It is also adulterated with the aqueous extract of 

 the capsules ; the extracts of Glaucium luteum, Lactuca virbsa and 

 Glycyrrhiza glabra, and sometimes with gum arabic, tragacanth, 

 aloes, and many other articles. 



The action of opium on the living system has been the sub- 

 ject of the keenest controversy. Some have asserted that it is 

 a direct sedative, and that it produces no stimulant effects what- 

 ever ; while others have asserted as strongly that it is a powerful 

 and highly diffusible stimulus, and that the sedative effects which 

 it undeniably produces are merely the consequences of previous 

 excitement. The truth appears to be that opium is capable of 

 producing a certain degree of excitement, while the sedative 

 effects which always succeed are incomparably greater than 

 could be produced by the previous excitement. The stimulant 

 effects are most apparent from small doses. These increase the 

 energy of the mind, the frequency of the pulse, and the heat of 

 the body, excite thirst, render the mouth dry and parched, and 

 diminish all the secretions and excretions, except the cuticular 

 discharge, which they increase. These effects are succeeded by 

 languor and lassitude. In larger doses the stimulant effects 

 are not so apparent, but the excitability is remarkably diminished, 

 and confusion, vertigo, and sleep are produced. In excessive 

 doses it proves a violent narcotic poison, exciting headach, ver- 

 tigo, delirium, and convulsions, accompanied with a very slow 

 pulse, stertorous breathing, and a remarkable degree of insen- 

 sibility or stupor, terminated by apoplectic death. The effects 

 of an overdose are best counteracted by the exhibition of re- 

 peated doses of diffusible stimuli, and chiefly by not permitting 

 the person to yield to his desire of sleeping. A solution of an 

 alkaline carbonate should also be injected to decompose the opium 

 and render the morphia insoluble. The exhibition of a powerful 

 emetic, and for this purpose sulphate of zinc or sulphate of 

 copper dissolved in water should be immediately swallowed, and 

 the vomiting kept up for a considerable time and urged by irrita- 

 tion of the fauces. Large draughts of vinegar and water or 

 other acidulated fluids should afterwards be frequently taken, 

 and the powers of the habit supported by brandy, coffee, and 

 cordials. Currie recommends the affusion of warm water at 

 106 degrees for the removing the drowsiness. By habit the 

 effects of opium on the body are remarkably diminished. There 

 have been instances of four grains proving fatal to adults, while 

 others have been known to consume as many drachms daily. 

 The habitual use of opium produces the same effects with habi- 

 tual dram-drinking ; tremors, paralysis, stupidity, and general 

 emaciation ; and like it can scarcely ever be relinquished. In 

 disease, opium is chiefly employed to mitigate pain, diminish 

 morbid sensibility, procure sleep, allay inordinate actions, and to 

 check diarrhoea and other excessive discharges. It is contra-in- 

 dicated in gastric affections, plethora, a highly inflammatory state 

 of the body, and determination of the blood to particular viscera. 



The Turks call opium afioni, and in the teriakihana or opium 

 shops of Constantinople they take it in graduated doses from 10 

 grains to 100 grains in a day. It is mixed with rich syrup and 

 the inspissated juices of fruit to render it more palatable and 



