658 BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



ScAMMONi/E Resina, which occurs in brownish, translucent 

 pieces that are brittle, shiny on the broken surfaces, fragrant 

 and acrid. It does not form an emulsion with water (distinction 

 from the natural resin), and is readily soluble in ether, consisting 

 almost entirely of scammonin. 



OPIUM. The dried milk-juice of the capsules of Papaver 

 somnifentm (Fam. Papaveracese), an annual herb (Fig. 147), 

 probably indigenous to Asia (p. 280), and now cultivated in Asia 

 Minor, China, India, Persia and European Turkey. Experiments 

 have been made both in this country and Europe to cultivate the 

 opium poppy, but so far these experiments have been unprofitable. 

 Opium is obtained by making transverse, oblique or longitudinal 

 incisions in the unripe capsule (Fig. 91) ; the latex which exudes 

 is collected when partly dry and made into a mass. The latter 

 is enclosed in a covering of rumex or poppy leaves and further 

 dried, subsequently being packed in bags with rumex berries to 

 prevent the masses from sticking together. While there are a 

 number of varieties of opium, that used in this country is prin- 

 cipally from Turkey and is exported chiefly from Smyrna and 

 Constantinople. There are two principal kinds of Smyrna opium, 

 namely, Karahissar, which occurs in spherical, somewhat flattened 

 masses, and Balukissar, which is in the form of flattened, plano- 

 convex masses, both kinds being wrapped in poppy leaves, packed 

 with Rumex seeds, and yielding about 13 per cent, of morphine. 



Turkey Opium. In irregular, flattened, more or less rounded 

 masses of variable size and weighing from 250 to i .000 grammes ; 

 externally grayish-brown, covered with remnants of poppy leaves 

 and with occasional fruits of a species of Rumex ; internally dark 

 brown, granular, somewhat lustrous, more or less plastic when 

 fresh, but becoming hard and darker on keeping ; odor distinct, 

 heavy; taste peculiar, bitter (Fig. 314). 



Constituents. A large number of alkaloids have been 

 obtained from opium and its extracts, some of which are, no 

 doubt, alteration products of the alkaloids naturally occurring in 

 the drug ; the most important of these is morphine, which exists 

 to the extent of 5 to 22 per cent., the largest amount being 

 obtained from Turkey opium, the Persian ranking next, and the 

 smallest amount being obtained from Indian opium. 



