CRUDE DRUGS. 66 1 



alcohol and give a deep red color to solutions of ferric chloride, 

 which is not altered on the addition of dilute hydrochloric acid. 



The yield of ash in Opium is from 4 to 8 per cent. 



Persian Opium. — Usually in masses weighing about 350 

 grammes, and internally more or less homogeneous. There are 

 three commercial kinds of Persian opium: (i) Persian green, 

 which is in plano-convex masses that are of a greenish color and 

 with a closely adhering covering of leaf-tissue; (2) Persian white, 

 which is in oblong, cubical masses, that are coated with a layer 

 of closely adhering white paper; (3) Persian red, which is in 

 either oblong, cubical, or truncate, cone-like masses, that are cov- 

 ered with a grayish-white layer and usually wrapped in red paper. 



Turkey Opium is produced in various parts of European and 

 Asiatic Turkey, and there are three principal kinds on the market, 

 namely: (i)Malatia opium, which is in the form of ellipsoidal 

 or oblong, flattened cakes, with a closely adhering coating of leaf- 

 tissue, and yields about 10 per cent, of morphine; (2) Salonica 

 opium, which is in the form of long, broad, flattened cakes, coated 

 with leaf-tissue, and yields about 15 per cent, of morphine; (3) 

 Gheve opium, which is obtained from plants with red flowers, 

 occurs in fiat, oval masses, wrapped in poppy leaves, and yields 

 12.5 per cent, of morphine. 



Egyptian Opium is in flat, nearly square masses, that are 

 covered with poppy leaves, and yields from 3.5 to 7 per cent, of 

 morphine. 



Indian Opium is in flat cakes weighing about 200 grammes, 

 or rounded masses weighing about 2 kilogrammes, wrapped in 

 oiled paper. This variety is sent chiefly to China. 



Adulterants. — Opium sometimes contains fragments of the 

 capsules, the pulp of figs and other fruits, tragacanth, starch, and 

 various inorganic substances, as clay, sand, stone, lead piping, 

 lead bullets, etc. While starch is not usually admixed with Tur- 

 key opium it is nearly always present in the Persian variety. 



ALOE. — ALOES. — The inspissated juice of the leaves of 

 various species of Aloe (Earn. Liliacese), perennial succulents 

 (Eig.130) indigenous to Africa and India and naturalized in the 

 West Indies (p. 237). There are three principal commercial 

 varieties of aloes : (i) Socotrine (and Zanzibar) Aloes, derived 



