poppy. 237 



properties before the time of Heraclides of Tarentum. Some 

 have thought that opium was the Nepenthes of Homer*, the 

 effects of which Helena learned from the Egyptians, but this 

 opinion is controverted by Dr. Christen -f. 

 Virgil calls it " Lethean poppy." 



" Lethaeo perfusa papavera somno." 



Georg. i. v. 78. 



" Inferias Orphei lethrea papavera mittes." 



Ibid. v. v. 545. 



The poets of our own country make frequent allusions to the 

 somniferous qualities of the poppy. Spenser, describing the 

 plants that grew in the garden of Mammon, says : — 



" There mournful cypress grew in greatest store, 

 And trees of bitter gall and heben seed, 

 Dead-sleeping poppy, and black hellebore. 



Faery Queen. 



" Not poppy, nor mandragora, 



Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, 

 Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep 

 Which thou owedst yesterday." 



Shakspeare. 



M And pale Nymphaea with her clay-cold breath ; 

 And poppies, which suborn the sleep of death." 



Harte. 



Products. The seeds, as already mentioned, yield by ex- 

 pression a bland, nutritive oil, with a nutty flavour, and which 

 may be substituted for that of olives or almonds in culinary and 

 other processes. The marc left after expression affords good 

 fodder for cattle, and may be given to poultry. In some 

 parts of Italy and Germany these seeds are made into cakes, 

 &c, after the manner of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and 

 Persians, who are said to have mixed them with flour, honey, 



the latter epithet referring to its reputed invention by Ceres, who was 

 sometimes called Mecone, from ptixav. The ancients feigned that it was 

 created by Ceres to assuage her grief for the loss of her daughter. 



* Odyssey, Book 10, v. 220. 



•f Opium Historice, Chemice, atque Pharmalogice Investigatum. Vin- 

 dbboncB, 8vo, 1820. 



