SECTION X 

 DRIED LATEX 



Latex is the name given to the milky liquid contained in laticiferous 

 tissue. This tissue may take the form of elongated, branching cells 

 (Apocynacece, Asclepidece, Urticacece, most Euphorbiacece) or of 

 superposed cells with intact transverse walls (many Convolvulacece) 

 or of superposed cells the transverse walls of which have been perforated, 

 thus forming laticiferous ' vessels ' (Papaveracece, many Composite, 

 Campanulacece, Sapolacece, some Convolvulacece and Euphorbiacece, 

 &c.). In addition to water, salts, proteids, pectin, gum, fat, wax, 

 enzymes, &c., the latex frequently contains substances of medicinal 

 or technical value, as, for instance, alkaloids (Papaver), caoutchouc 

 (Hevea, Ficus, &c.), guttapercha (Palaquium, Mimusops), acrid 

 principles (Euphorbia), &c. It is readily exuded by the plant on 

 incision and may thus be collected and dried (opium, lactucarium, 

 euphorbium) or further treated for the isolation of one or more of 

 its constituents (caoutchouc, guttapercha). 



OPIUM 



Source, &c. Opium consists of the dried latex of the opium poppy, 

 Papaver somniferum, Linne (N.O. Papaveracece). The drug was 

 apparently known in very remote times, as both the Greeks and Romans 

 were well acquainted with it, and with the manner in which it was 

 collected then, as it is now, from the unripe capsule of the opium poppy. 

 The physicians of the Arabian school probably introduced the drug 

 into India as well as into Europe. It was originally used as a medicine, 

 the practice of opium-eating having originated probably in Persia. 



Opium is collected principally in Greece, Serbia, Asia Minor, 

 Persia, India, China, and in small quantities in Australia. The culti- 

 vation of the opium poppy has been experimentally carried on in France, 

 Germany, and other countries, where, however, the expense of the 

 necessary labour and land has been so great as to render it unprofitable, 

 although opium of very high quality has been obtained. Indeed, the 

 highest percentage of morphine ever observed in the drug (22-88) was 

 found in a sample collected near Amiens, in France. 



