2UJ MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



another variety ; but for medicinal purposes any of these may be 

 employed indiscriminately, as we are not able to discover the least 

 difference in their sensible qualities or effects. 



The seeds, according to some authors, possess a narcotic power ; 

 but there is no foundation for this opinion : they consist of a simple 

 farinaceous matter, united with a bland oil, and in many countries 

 are eaten as food. As a medicine, they have been usually given in 

 the form of einulsion, in catarrhs, stranguaries, &c. 



The heads or capsules of the poppy, which are directed for use 

 in the Pharmacopoeias, like the stalks and leaves have an unplea- 

 sant smell, somewhat like that of opium, and an acrid bitterish 

 taste. Both the smell and taste reside in a milky juice, which 

 more especially abounds in the cortical part of the capsules, and in 

 its concrete state constitutes the officinal opium. These capsules 

 are powerfully narcotic, or anodyne ; boiled in water, they impart 

 to the menstruum their narcotic juice, together with the other juices 

 which they have in common with vegetable matters in general. 

 The liquor, strongly pressed out, suffered to settle, cla/ified with 

 whites of eggs, and evaporated to a due consistence, yields an ex- 

 tract which is about one-fifth or one-sixth *of the weight of the 

 heads. This possesses the virtues of opium, but requires to be 

 given in double its dose to answer the same intention, which it is 

 said to perform without occasioning a nausea and giddiness, the 

 usual effects of opium. This extract was first recommended by Mr. 

 Arnot ; and a similar one is now received in the Edinburgh Phar- 

 macopoeia. It is found very convenient to prepare the syrup from 

 this extract, by dissolving one dram in two pounds and a half of 

 simple syrup. The syrupus papaveris albi, as directed by both 

 colleges, is a useful anodyne, and often succeeds in procuring sleep, 

 where opium fails ; it is more especially adapted to children. 

 White poppy heads are also used externally in fomentations, either 

 alone, or more frequently added to the decoctum pro fomento. 



Opium, as we have already observed, is obtained from the heads 

 or capsules of this species of poppy, and is imported into Europe 

 from Persia, Arabia, and other warm regions of Asia. The manner 

 in which it is collected has been described long ago by Kaempfer 

 and others ; but the most circumstantial detail of the culture of 

 the poppy, and the method of procuring the opium from it, is that 



