POPPY OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 335 



Poppy, White [Papaxer somniferum), an annual of the Poppy 

 family (Papaveraceaj), attaining a height of 3 feet, having large, 

 single, white or pink flowers. Its native country is not known, 

 as it has been cultivated from the most remote ages, and was 

 early known in Italy and Greece. It has long been extensively 

 grown in India for its milky juice, which is obtained by scarify- 

 ing the capsules when fully grown but in a green state. The 

 juice soon hardens, and is scraped off, formed into balls, and 

 called Opium, from which morphia is obtained. The highly 

 medicinal properties are well known, and when used with judici- 

 ous care it is one of the most valuable medicines known to man. 

 Opium is, however, more extensively used for inducing narcotic 

 intoxication by smoking or chewing, particularly in China, 

 Turkey, Persia, India, and Siam, and to some extent in England. 

 This pernicious custom wdien carried to excess is fatal to 

 health, even causing madness. The capsules, or poppy -heads, 

 are dried and employed in fomentations, and a syrup is pre- 

 pared from them for use as a cough medicine. Oj)ium forms 

 one of the ingredients of Godfrey's Cordial. The seeds are per- 

 fectly free from any narcotic principle. A fine clear oil, nearly 

 equal to olive oil, is obtained from them, which is used as a 

 salad oil in India as well as on the Continent, where it is ex- 

 pressly grown for that purpose. It is but sparingly cultivated 

 in this country for its heads, the seed being the maw-seed given 

 to cage-birds. 



The Government of China, being desirous to prevent the use 

 of Opium, in 1839 destroyed a great quantity, the property 

 of British merchants, wdiich led to the first war with that 

 country ; the result being the opening of that great empire, as 

 also Japan, to the trade and commerce of the world. \_The 

 Poppy, therefore, with the tea, sugar, tohacco, and cotton plcmts, 

 has been an important agent in changing the political and social 

 conditions of nations. An imp)ort duty on tea led to the separation 

 from the British Crown of the North American Colonics, which 

 have hecome the great Repuhlic of the United States. The cidtiva- 

 tion of sugar, tohacco, and cotton in America and the West Indies 



