The incisions must not extend through 

 the walls of the capsule, as some of 

 the juice would escape into the inte- 

 rior and be lost. As soon as the in- 

 cisions are made a milky sap ex- 

 udes, which gradually thickens, due to 

 the evaporation of moisture, and be- 

 comes darker in color. The following 

 day the sticky, now dark-brown juice, 

 is scraped off and smeared on . a 

 poppy leaf held in the left hand; more 

 and more juice is added until a goodly 

 sized lump is collected. These sticky, 

 ill-smelling masses of opium are now 

 placed in a shaded place to dry. The 

 entire process of incising and collect- 

 ing as carried on by the Orientals is 

 exceedingly uncleanly. To the nast)' 

 habit of moistening the knife-blade 

 with saliva is supplemented the filth 

 of unwashed hands and the sand and 

 dirt of the poppy leaves, which are 

 added from time to time to form a new 

 support for the juice as it is removed 

 from the knife. In scraping the gum 

 considerable epidermal tissue is also 

 included. Each lump of gum opium 

 contains therefore a mixture of spittle, 

 the filth of dirty hands, poppy leaves, 

 sand, and dust. In addition to that 

 many collectors adulterate the gum 

 opium with a great variety of sub- 

 stances. Dioscorides mentions the fact 

 that even in those remote times adul- 

 teration of opium was practiced, such 

 substances as lard, syrup, juice of lac- 

 tuca, and glaucium being added. Mod- 

 ern collectors and dealers adulterate 

 opium with sand, pebbles, clay, lead, 

 flour, starch, licorice, chicory, gum 

 arabic and other gums, figs, pounded 

 poppy capsules, an excessive quantity 

 of poppy leaves and other leaves, etc. 

 After collecting and drying the peas- 

 ants carry the gum opium to the mar- 

 ket-places, where they are met by the 

 buyers and merchants, who inspect the 

 wares and fix a price very advantageous 

 to themselves. 



The present trade in opium is some- 

 thing enormous, especially in India, 

 China, and Asia Minor. To the credit 

 of the Chinese and the discredit of the 

 English it must be said that in 1793 the 

 former strenuously objected to the in- 

 troduction of opium traffic by the lat- 

 ter. This opposition by the Chinese 



government culminated in the ''Opium 

 War," which led to the treaty of Nan- 

 king in 1842, giving the English the 

 authority to introduce opium into 

 China as a staple article of commerce. 

 The reason that Chinese officials ob-_ 

 jected to the introduction of opium 

 was because they recognized the fact 

 that the inhabitants very readil}' ac- 

 quired the habit of smoking opium. 

 In spite of the most severe government 

 edicts the habit spread very rapidly 

 after the treaty referred to. 



Gum opium contains active princi- 

 ples (alkaloids), to which it owes its pe- 

 culiar stimulating, soporific, and pain- 

 relieving powers. Of these alkaloids, 

 of which there are about nineteen, mor- 

 phine and codeine are undoubtedly the 

 most important. The properties of 

 gum opium represent therefore the 

 collective properties of all of the alka- 

 loids and are similar to the properties 

 of the predominating alkaloids just 

 mentioned. 



Physicians generally agree that opium 

 is the most important of medicines. 

 Properly used it is certainly a great 

 boon to mankind, for which there is no 

 substitute, but, like all great blessings, 

 it has its abuses. It is the most effect- 

 ive remedy for the relief of pains and 

 spasms of all kinds. It will produce 

 calm and sleep where everything else 

 has failed. It finds a use in all diseases 

 and ailments accompanied by severe 

 pain, in delirium, rheumatic and neu- 

 ralgic troubles, in dysentery, etc. It 

 may be applied externally to abraded 

 surfaces, to. ulcers and inflamed tis- 

 sues for the relief of pain. The value 

 of opium does not lie so much in its 

 direct curative powers as in its sedative 

 and quieting effects upon diseased or- 

 gans, which tends to hasten or bring 

 about the healing or recuperating pro- 

 cess. In some diseases the physician 

 refrains from giving opium, as in fully 

 developed pneumonia, since the quiet- 

 ing effect would diminish the efforts 

 on the part of the patient to get rid of 

 the inflammatory products accumu- 

 lating in the air vesicles and finer bron- 

 chial tubes. In fact, the soothing effect 

 is too often mistaken for a curative 

 effect and the patient is neglected. The 

 Roman habit of feeding children pap 



