SECT. XTV. ALKALOIDS. 427 



intermediate in power between that from deadly night- 

 shade and hemlock, yet the potato itself, like the cassava, 

 is rendered wholesome by being boiled or roasted. 



The alkaloids are alkaline substances formed in the 

 bark and milky juices of plants, always combined with 

 an acid during the life of the plant. The chemical 

 structure of this class of substances is very much alike, 

 and chemists have succeeded in forming many of them 

 synthetically ; they all contain azote, and have a great 

 affinity for acids. The bark of the different species of 

 Cinchonese, especially the Cinchona cordifolia and C. 

 Condaminea, yield three alkaloids namely, cinchonine, 

 quinine, and cusconine they are all formed of carbon, 

 hydrogen, and azote in the same proportions ; but the 

 first has one atom of oxygen in addition, the second has 

 two atoms in addition, and the third has three ; so that 

 in these alkaloids the carbon, hydrogen, and azote com- 

 bine to form an organic radical, which is oxidized in 

 three different degrees. Six of the alkaloids have been 

 obtained from opium, which is the solid portion of the 

 milk juice of the poppy ; of these, morphine seems to 

 be the narcotic principle ; and the orange -coloured milk 

 sap of the Chelidonium, a very poisonous and acrid 

 plant of the poppy order, has furnished chelidonine. 

 The Colchicum order, containing the meadow saffron 

 or autumnal crocus, and Yeratrum album or white helle- 

 bore, as well as many other plants, yield alkaloids, all of 

 which are medicinal or poisonous, according to the dose. 



There is scarcely a people, however savage, that has 

 not discovered some exciting narcotic. Opium is almost 

 universally smoked or eaten among Eastern nations; 

 and bhang, a strong narcotic, obtained from the leaves 

 of Indian hemp, is in equally universal use among the 

 Brazilian savages and Hottentots, but especially among 

 the Malays, who are excited to madness when they smoke 

 it too freely. The same intoxicating effect is produced 

 by a strong liquor prepared from the Datura sanguinea, 



