OPIUM. 61 



Chevallier^ states that Smyrna opium, of which several cases were 

 received by Merck of Darmstadt in 1845, afforded 12 to 13 per cent, of 

 pure morphine reckoned upon the drug in its fresh and moist state. 



Fayk Bey^ analysed 92 samples of opium of Asia Minor, and 

 found that half the number yielded more than 10 per cent, of 

 morphine. The richest afforded 17*2 per cent. 



From the foregoing statements we are warranted in assuming that 

 good Smyrna opium deprived of water ought to afford 12 to 15 per 

 cent, of morphine, and that if the percentage is less than 10, adultera- 

 tion may be suspected. 



Egyptian opium has usually been found very much weaker in mor- 

 phine than that of Asia Minor. A sample sent to the Paris Exhibition 

 of 1865 and presented to one of us by Figari Bey of Cairo, afforded 

 us 58 per cent, of morphine and 87 of narcotine. 



Persian opium appears extremely variable, probably in consequence 

 of the practice of combining it with sugar and other substances. It is 

 however sometimes very good. Seput* obtained from four samples the 

 respective percentages of 1347, 1152, 1012, 1008 of morphine, the 

 opium being free from water. Mr. Howard as already stated (p. 49) 

 extracted from Persian opium, not previously dried, from 8 to 1075 per 

 cent, of morphine. 



East Indian opium is remarkable for its low percentage of mor- 

 phine, a circumstance which we think is attributable in part to 

 climate and in part to a method of collection radically defective. It is 

 scarcely conceivable that the long period during which the juice 

 remains in a wet state, — always three to four weeks, — does not exer- 

 cise a destructive action on its constituents. 



According to Eatwell * the percentage of morphine in the samples of 

 Benares opium officially submitted for analysis gave the following 

 averages . — 



1845-46 1846-47 1847-48 184&-49 

 2-48 2-38 2-20 3-21 



The same observer has i-ecorded the results of the examination 

 of freshly collected poppy -juice, which in three instances afforded 

 respectively 14, 306, and 2-89 per cent, of morphine, reckoned on 

 the material deprived of water ; but the conditions under which the 

 experiments were made appear open to great objection.* 



Such very low results are not always obtained from East Indian 

 opium. In a sample from Khandesh furnished by the Indian Museum, 

 we found 607 of morphine. Solly from the same kind obtained about 

 7 per cent. 



Patna Garden Opium which is the sort prepared exclusively for 

 medicinal use, afforded us 86 per cent, of purified morphine and 4 per 

 cent, of narcotine.^ Guibourt obtained from such an opium 772 



1 Notice historique sur V opium indigtne, stand in a basin from 23rcl Feb. to 7th May, 



Paris, 1852. being " occasionally stirred " ! 



* Monographie des Opiums de V Empire * This drug made in 1838 came from 

 Ottoman envoyis a. V Exposition de Paris, the Apothecary - General, Calcutta, and 

 1867. was presented by Christison to the Kew 



» Joum. de Pharm. xxxix. (1861) 163. Museum. It is in rectangular tablets 



* Pharm. Joum. xi. (1852) 361. 2^ inches square and ^ of an inch thick, 



* In one case the juice was allowed to cased in wax. 



