OPIUM. 



547 



as a stimulant, and subsequently as a sedative. In 

 this way they produce more or less of an exhilara- 

 tion of spirits, and an increase of the actions and 

 secretions of the body, followed, however, by a 

 corresponding depression and inaction. In suffi- 

 cient doses, they allay pain and nervous irregu- 

 larity of action; in excess, they destroy the 

 functions of life altogether. The active princi- 

 ple of all these plants resides in the natui-al 

 juices, and varies in nature according to the 

 particular plant. 



Opium (papaversomniferum). Natural family 

 rhceades; polyandria, monogynia, of Linnteus. 



2H. 



Wiite Poppy. 



This celebrated drug is the expressed juice of a 

 species of poppy. The root is annual, tapering, 

 and branched; the stalk is round, smooth, erect, 

 often branched, of a shining green colour, and 

 rises two or three feet in height. The leaves 

 are alternate, large, ovate, deeply serrated, and 

 closely embrace the stalk. The ilowers are very 

 large, terminal, and usually white or purplish. 

 The capsule is one-celled, divided half way into 

 many compartments, which open by several 

 apertui'es beneath the crown, and contain numer- 

 ous small seeds. It is a native of the warmer 

 parts of Asia, and is not uncommon in a wild 

 state in England, growing in old neglected gar- 

 dens, and even in the fields. It flowers in July 

 and August. 



This species is said to have been named white 

 poppy, from the whiteness of its seeds; a variety 

 of it, however, is well known to produce black 

 seeds. The double-flowered white poppy is 

 also another vaiiety; but for medicinal purposes 

 any of them may be employed indiscriminately, 

 as no difference is discoverable in the sensible 

 qualities or effects. 



The leaves, stalks, and especially the capsules 

 of the poppy, abound with a narcotic, milky 

 juice, which, when exposed to the sun and air, 

 hardens into the substance called opium. This 

 substance may also be obtained, though in a 

 much less pure or concentrated state, by boiling 

 the above parts of the plant in water, and then 

 evaporating it so as to form an extract. 



Opium is chiefly obtained from Persia, Arabia, 



and other parts of India. The manner of cul- 

 tivating the poppy in those countries, is thus 

 detailed by Mr Kerr. The field being well pre- 

 pared by the plough and harrow, and reduced 

 to an exact level superficies, is then divided into 

 quadrangular areas of seven feet long, and five 

 feet in breadth, leaving two feet of interval, 

 which is raised five or six inches, and excavated 

 into an aqueduct for conveying water to every 

 ai-ea, for which purpose they have a well in every 

 cultivated field. The seeds are sown in October 

 or November. The plants are allowed to gi'ow 

 six or eight inches distant from each other, and 

 are plentifully supplied with water. When the 

 young plants are six or eight inches high, they 

 are watered more sparingly; but the cultivator 

 strews all over the areas a compost of ashes and 

 animal manure, and a large portion of nitrous 

 earth, scraped from the highways and old mud 

 walls. When the plants are about to flower, 

 they are watered very profusely, and kept con- 

 stantly moist. When the capsules are half grown, 

 the supply of water is stopped, and the process 

 of collecting the opium is commenced. At sun- 

 set they make two longitudinal double incisions 

 upon each half-ripe capsule, passing from below 

 upwards, and taking care not to penetrate the 

 internal cavity of the capsule. The incisions 

 are repeated every evening until each capsule 

 has received six or eight wounds; they are then 

 allowed to ripen their seeds. The ripe capsules 

 afford little or no juice. If the wound was 

 made in the heat of the day, a cicatrix would 

 be too soon fonned, while the night dews, by 

 their moisture, favour the exudation of the 

 juice. 



Early in the morning old women, boys, and 

 girls, collect the juice by scraping it off the 

 wounds with a small iron scoope, and deposit 

 the whole in an earthen pot, where it is worked 

 by the hand in the open sunshine, until it becomes 

 of a considei-able thickness. It is then fonned 

 into cakes of a globular shape, and about four 

 pounds in weight, and laid into little earthen 

 basins to be farther dried. These cakes are 

 covered over with poppy or tobacco leaves, and 

 dried till they are fit for sale. Opium is fre- 

 quently adultei-ated by an admixture of cow 

 dung, the exti'aot of the plant pi-ocured by 

 boiling, and various other substances. At the 

 period Mr Kerr wrote, towards the end of the 

 last century, there v/ere 600,000 pounds of opium 

 exported from the Ganges. Since that time the 

 trade has gi'eatly increased, especially since the 

 opium trade with China hasprodigiously increased 

 the demand. 



The cultivation of the white poppy, and the 

 manufacture of opium, has been several times 

 tried in Britain, and several years ago by Dr 

 Young, in the vicinity of Edinburgh. The 

 uncertainty of the seasons, however, and the fre- 



