Improved Crucible. 389 
Weare gratified to observe by the appearance of the 
two last named journals that different departments of 
France are beginning to be represented by medical jour- 
nals, the management of which has hitherto been confined 
almost exclusively to the Metropolis. 
29. English Optum.—The poppy (Papaver somniferum) 
is recently cultivated in England, with much success, for 
the manufacture of opium. Messrs. Cowley and Staines of 
Winslow in the season of 1822 raised 143 pounds of ex- 
cellent opium from 11 acres and 5 poles of land; for 
which they received a premium from the “ society institu- 
ted at London for the encouragement of Arts, Manufac- 
tures, and Commerce.”? A medal has been given by this 
society to J. W. Jeston, Esq. Surgeon, for an improvement 
in collecting the juice of the poppy. His improvement 
consists in collecting the juice immediately after it exudes 
from the capsule, instead of allowing it to become inspissated 
on the capsule. The capsule is scarified with a sharp in- 
strument gauged to a proper depth, when the juice is scra- 
ped off with a kind of funnel-form scoop fixed into the 
mouth ofa phial. When one phial is filled the scoop is re- 
moved to another, and the juice is evaporated in shallow 
pans. Some varieties of the poppy are much more pro- 
ductive than others. 
The opium raised in England has been used for ev- 
eral years by physicians and surgeons, who pronounce it 
superior to the best ‘Turkey and East Indian Opium. 
Trans. Soc. Man. and Com. Vol. 41. 
30. Improved Crucible.--The fragility of the earthen ware 
crucibles (technically called melting pots) commonly used 
by brass founders and other workers of metal, and the ex- 
pensiveness of the plumbago pots have induced Mr. H. Mar- 
shall, of New Castle upon Tyne, to attempt an improve- 
ment in the manufacture of the earthen ware pots. 
“*Mr. Marshall’s pots are made of a mixture of Stour- 
bridge clay. potsherds, and pulverized coke, well incorpo- 
rated together by beating; and, instead of being thrown 
on the potter’s wheel, the pot is made by pressing the 
above composition into a brass mould of the proper size 
and figure, by means of a core worked by a powerful screw- 
