FIXED OILS. 219 



great and lasting" contentions, which took so serious 

 an aspect as to call for the interference of the govern- 

 ment of France to appease the opposing- parties. It 

 was supposed that as the poppy-head contains nar- 

 cotic juices, the same soporific properties must neces- 

 sarily reside in the seeds, and therefore that the use 

 of its oil would be attended with dangerous conse- 

 quences, and, like that of opium, would "finally 

 obtund all the faculties of the soul." Ou the other 

 hand, the advocates for its continued consumption 

 asserted that long experience had proved this appre- 

 hension to be totally groundless. 



The contending parties remained in this state, 

 without any prospect of coming to an accommoda- 

 tion, when the severe winter of 1709 overtook the 

 combatants still engaged in their angry warfare. 

 The intense frost of that period damaged the olive, 

 the walnut, and the other oil-producing trees, so 

 much as to occasion a scarcity of oil. The poppy 

 oil was then again brought forward in large quan- 

 tities, and mixed in the proportions of one-quarter, 

 one-third, or even one-half, with olive oil. It 

 was sold without any active opposition ; but when 

 the vender, becoming bolder from this impunity, 

 ventured to sell it in its pure state, violent clamour 

 was again raised, and in 1717 the Lieutenant- 

 General of the Police of Paris was obliged to take mea- 

 sures for quelling it. Reference was in consequence 

 made to forty of the most celebrated medical prac- 

 titioners, who reported, after various experiments, 

 that nothing narcotic or prejudicial was contained in 

 the oil. This decision was, however, considered un- 

 satisfactory, and popular prejudice so far prevailed 

 as to determine the legislative powers to pass a 

 decree, in 1718, whereby the sale of poppy oil, 

 whether mixed or unmixed, was totally prohibited, 



