20 Observations and Experiments on Opium. 



quantity of soluble or extractive matter by the same men- 

 strua and process, yielded by different parcels of opium, va- 

 ried from four and a half to five and six drachms in the ounce. 

 The consumption of opium is almost incredible. In the 

 year 1 800, 46,808 pounds were consumed in Europe, and the 

 quantity has been increased largely every year since. In 1809 

 the revenue which the Bengal government derived from the 

 sale of opium was £594,978 and the exports of opium from 

 Calcutta to China alone in 1811—12, amounted to 4,542,968 

 Sicca Rupees, £567,871* The supply of Calcutta for 1827 

 is rated as follows : 



Bengal, - - - 



- 6,570 chests. 



Mahia, - - - 



- 4,000 " 



do. smuggled, - 



- 1,500 " 



Turkey, - - - 



- 1,000 " 



13,700 chests. 



The supply for 1826 was 10,300 chests making an increase 

 of 3,400 chests in the last year. 



The speculating spirit in this article at Calcutta is at pres- 

 ent said to be in a depressed state, which is attributed to the 

 large supply, but is perhaps produced still more, by the scar- 

 city of the circulating medium. 



Although opium is prohibited by the Chinese government, 

 yet about 2000 chests are annually imported into Canton the 

 average sale price being 1 200 dollars per chest making the 

 amount annually expended by Canton for this drug the enor- 

 mous sum of 2,400,000 dollars ; about 40,000 pounds are an- 

 nually imported into London. 



In the provinces of Bahar and Benares, among the most 

 productive of the East Indies, the common product of opi- 

 um is 24 pounds to an acre, besides which the cultivator 

 reaps about forty pounds of seeds. The preparation of the 

 raw opium is under the immediate superintendence of the 

 company's agent, who adopts the following method to pre- 

 pare it. It consists in evaporating by exposure to the sun, the 

 watery particles, which are replaced by oil of poppy seeds to 

 prevent the drying of the resin. The opium is then formed 

 into cakes, and covered with the petals of the poppy, and 

 when sufficiently dried, it is packed in chests with the frag- 

 ments of the capsules, from which the poppy seeds have been 



* Hamilton's East India Gazetteer. 



