240 



PAP 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



PAP 



the hairs of the peduncle, being laid close or spreading, will 

 always distinguish this species from the fifth. He also men- 

 tions a variety, which, if it be not indeed a distinct species, 

 seems to be an intermediate plant between them both. It is 

 found about Shankline Chine, and in pastures in various 

 parts of the Isle of Wight. This species is an annual, and 

 a native of several parts of Europe. It is the commonest 

 species in North Britain ; and in Battersea fields, where the 

 soil is light, Mr. Curtis found it nearly as common as the 

 preceding species. It is not unfrequently found on walls, 

 and about Cambridge, Oxford, Stockwell in Surry, and 

 Bocking in Essex. 



7. Papaver Somniferum; Common White Poppy. Calices 

 and capsules smooth; leaves embracing, gashed; stalks large, 

 five or six feet high, branching ; flowers terminating, whilst 

 enclosed in the calix hanging down, but before the corolla 

 expands becoming erect. The calix is composed of two 

 large, oval, grayish leaves, that separate and soon drop off. 

 The corolla is composed of four large, roundish, white petals, 

 of short duration, and succeeded by large roundish heads as 

 big as oranges, flatted at top and bottom, and having an 

 indented crown or stigma. The seeds are white. There, are 

 several varieties, differing in the colour and multiplicity of 

 their petals, which are preserved in gardens for ornament ; 

 but that with single flowers only is cultivated for use. The 

 Common Black Poppy has stalks about three feet high, 

 smooth, and dividing into several branches ; leaves largie, 

 smooth, deeply cut or jagged on their edges, and embracing; 

 petals purple, with dark bottoms, succeeded by oval smooth 

 capsules filled with black seeds, which are sold under the 

 name of Maw seed. There are many varieties of this with 

 large double flowers, variegated of several colours, red and 

 white, purple and white, and some finely spotted like Carna- 

 tions: there are few plants, the flowers of which are so hand- 

 some; but having an offensive scent, and being of short 

 duration, they are not much regarded. This is the plant 

 from which Opium is obtained. It is also called Opium The- 

 baicum, from being anciently prepared chiefly at Thebes, and 

 has been a celebrated medicine from the remotest times. It 

 differs from Meconium, which was made by the ancients of 

 the expressed juice or decoction of the Poppies. Opium is 

 imported into Europe in flat cakes, covered willi leaves to 

 prevent their sticking together: it has a reddish brown 

 colour, and a strong peculiar smell : its taste at first is nau- 

 seous and bitter, but soon becomes acrid, and produces a 

 slight warmth in the mouth : a watery tincture of it forms an 

 ink with a chalybeate solution. According to the experi- 

 ments of Alston, it appears to consist of about five parts in 

 twelve of gummy matter, fourf resinous matter, and three 

 of earthy or other indissoluble impurities. The use of this 

 famous medicine, though not known to Hippocrates, can be 

 clearly traced back to Diogorus, who was nearly his con- 

 temporary, and its importance has ever since been gradually 

 advanced. Its extensive practical utility has however not 

 long been well understood ; and in this country perhaps may 

 be dated from the time of Sydenham. It is the chief narcotic 

 now employed ; it acts directly upon the nervous power, 

 diminishing the sensibility, irritability, and mobility of the 

 system ; suspending, according to the idea of an ingenious 

 author, the motion of the nervous fluid to and from the brain, 

 and thereby inducing sleep, one of its principal effects. 

 From this sedative power of Opium, by which it allays pains, 

 inordinate action, and restlessness, it naturally follows, that 

 it may be employed with great advanttujg in a variety of 

 diseases. Indeed there is scarcely any disorder in which, 

 under some circumstances, its use is not found proper; and 



though in many cases it fails to procure sleep, yet if taken in 

 a full dose, it occasions a pleasant tranquillity of mind, and 

 a drowsiness approaching to sleep, which always refreshes 

 the patient. But, besides the sedative power, it is also 

 known to act more or less as a stimulant, exciting the motion 

 of the blood ; and this increased action has been ingeniously 

 and rationally ascribed to that general law of the animal 

 economy by which any noxious influence is resisted by a 

 consequent re-action of the system. By a certain conjoined 

 effort of this sedative and stimulant effect, Opium has been 

 thought to produce intoxication ; a quality for which it is 

 much used in the Eastern countries. In the most continued 

 fevers of this climate, though originating from contagion, 

 or from whatever cause, there is generally at the beginning 

 more or less of inflammatory diathesis; and this, while it 

 continues, would forbid the use of Opium, which might 

 prove dangerous. Its use is also forbidden in the more 

 advanced state of this fever, whenever topical inflammation 

 of the brain is ascertained, which sometimes exists, and pro- 

 duces delirium, though other symptoms of the nervous and 

 putrid kind prevail. But when irritation of the brain is not 

 of the inflammatory kind, and debility has made much pro- 

 gress, or where delirium is accompanied with spasmodic 

 affections, Opium is a sovereign remedy, and may be em- 

 ployed in large doses every eight hours, unless a remission 

 of the symptoms and sleep take place. In intermittent fevers, 

 Opium in combination with other medicines was much used 

 by the ancients; but since the introduction of Peruvian bark 

 it is seldom trusted to for the cure of these disorders : it has 

 however been strongly recommended as an effectual means 

 of preventing the recurrence of the febrile paroxysms : and 

 has been given before the fit, in the cold stage, in the hot 

 stage, and during the interval, with the best effects, pro- 

 ducing immediate relief, and, in short, curing the patient 

 without leaving those abdominal obstructions which have 

 been ascribed to the bark ; but in these fevers the best 

 practice seems to be that of uniting Opium with the bark, 

 which enables the stomach to bear the latter in larger doses, 

 and adds considerably to its efficacy. When Opium is so 

 managed as to produce sweat, it will tend to remove an 

 inflammatory state of the system, and may generally prove 

 useful ; a notable instance of this we observe in the cure of 

 acute rheumatism by means of Dover's powder. In the 

 small-pox, Opium, since the time of Sydenham, has been 

 very generally and successfully prescribed, especially after 

 the fifth day of the disease; but during the first stage of 

 the eruptive fever we are told that it always does harm ; an 

 opinion, says Dr. Woodville, which our experience at the 

 small-pox hospital warrants us to contradict. In haemor- 

 rhages, the use of Opium is inferred from its known effects 

 in restraining all excretions except that of sweat; but unless 

 the haemorrhages be of the passive kind, or unattended by 

 inflammation, it may produce considerable mischief. In 

 dysentery, Opium may be occasionally employed to moderate 

 the violence of the symptoms. In diarrhoea, when the acri- 

 mony has been carried off by a continuance of the disease, 

 it is a certain and efticacious remedy. In colic, it is em- 

 ployed with laxatives, and no doubt often prevents inflam- 

 mation by removing the spasm. Opium has been lately 

 recommended in venereal cases ; and instances have been 

 adduced in which it has succeeded when mercury has failed; 

 but few practitioners would venture trusting to Opium alone 

 in these complaints. Opium is successfully employed in 

 tetanus, and in other spasmodic and convulsive cases. Re- 

 specting the external use of Opium, authors are not agreed; 

 some contending, that when applied to the skin it allays pain 



