POPPY. OPIUM. 149 



out shooting ; but as soon as the corn begins to 

 grow, they spring up. 



When the Poppy is only in bud the stem is 

 curved, and the head hangs down, so as to pre- 

 vent the rain and dew from getting into it; but 

 when the flower has become larger, and is ready to 

 open, the stalk stands up, as if for the purpose oi 

 presenting the flower to the sun's rays. 



Opium, which is so much used in medicine, on 

 account of its power to relieve pain, and to occa- 

 sion sleep, is the juice obtained from the unripe 

 seed-vessels of another species of Papa'ver, the 

 somnif erum, or white Poppy. In many parts of 

 Asia Minor the inhabitants chew Opium, as the 

 sailors and common people chew tobacco in Eng- 

 land ; and whole fields are sown with the seeds of 

 this plant, just as ours are with corn. When the 

 heads are nearly ripe, they are cut into on one 

 side with a sharp instrument, and a white liquor 

 flows out, which the heat of the sun hardens upon 

 them ; this is the Opium : it is collected the next 

 day, when fresh cuts are made on the opposite 

 side of the seed-vessel ; but what comes from the 

 first wound is greatly superior to that obtained 

 from the second. After the opium is collected, it 

 is moistened with a small quantity of water or 

 honey, and worked upon a board until it becomes 

 of the consistence of pitch, when it is formed into 

 cakes or rolls for sale. Tincture of opium, which 



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