122 Opium Camphor Rhubarb, 



making the meadows appear like ponds. They are exten- 

 sively cultivated in the eastern part of New Jersey. 



in. We have before mentioned certain plants the use 

 of which is injurious to health. There are others. In 

 India, along the Ganges River, thousands and thou- 

 sands of acres of land are devoted to the cultivation of a 

 plant, on account of the juice or sap taken from its seed- 

 vessels ; the plant is called the white poppy. The juice is 

 called opium, and it is extensively used by the Chinese, 

 who both smoke it and eat it for the peculiar, dreamy, and 

 quieting, or rather deadening, effect which it produces on 

 the feelings. Its use is very injurious to both body and 

 mind. 



112. From opium, the drugs called laudanum and 

 morphia or mor'phine are derived. These are often pre- 

 scribed by physicians to allay pain or to produce sleep. 

 The opium used in the United States and in Europe is 

 mostly imported from Turkey in Asia and Persia. 



113. There is another plant which yields a substance 

 called hasheesh or hashish ; this also produces stupor and 

 dreaminess, and is extensively used in Asiatic countries. 

 The plant is hemp, from the fibres of which, rope, bag- 

 ging, etc., are made ; it is raised chiefly in Russia. 



114. Camphor is a substance obtained from the wood 

 and bark of the camphor trees of China, Japan, For- 

 mosa, Sumatra, and Borneo. 



115. Rhubarb is the root of a plant which -grows in 

 Central Asia, whence it is sent to Turkey and Rus- 

 sia, and then exported. 



1 1 6. Castor oil is obtained from the seeds of the castor- 

 oil plant, which grows in Africa, America, and Europe. 



