124 MEDICAL BOTANY. 



bright brown, and of all degrees of consistence, from fluidity to a solid tex- 

 ture. 



After this examination, a portion is taken from each parcel and mixed to- 

 gether, and from this, three samples, of 100 grains each, are weighed and 

 evaporated to dryness ; if the residue is above 70, a corresponding price is 

 paid, and vice versa. The amount of extract is taken at the same time. 

 On these data, the contents of the jars are sorted for mixture in great tanks ; 

 the jars are then washed, and the washings, with the opium of the last class, 

 is used as paste to agglutinate the covering of the petals in making up the 

 balls or cakes. 



When all the opium has been received, the tanks are gradually cleared of 

 their contents, and the soft mass exposed to the action of the air, until it dries 

 to a consistence of 69 or 70. It is then made up into cakes, of a certain 

 weight, each covered with a layer of the petals of the plant. These are care- 

 fully dried. Some of the best opium is prepared with more care for the 

 medical service. 



But it is not in Asia alone that opium has been collected ; many successful 

 attempts have been made in England and other parts of Europe, but the cul- 

 ture of the poppy for this purpose has been very limited, and rather for the 

 purposes of experiment than for sale. These trials have shown that an 

 article fully equal to Turkey opium can be prepared, and at a lower price. 



There are many varieties of opium known in commerce, the principal of 

 which are the Smyrna or Turkey, the Egyptian, and the East Indian, the 

 two first of which alone come to the United States. The first is in irregular, 

 rounded, or flattened cakes, enveloped in the petals of the plant, and covered 

 with the capsules of a Rumex. The fracture is waxy, the odour strong, and 

 the taste bitter and nauseous. The Egyptian- is in round flattened cakes, of 

 a more regular form than the last, covered with a leaf, but not with the seed- 

 vessels of a Rumex. This is inferior to the Turkey, though sometimes par- 

 cels are met with as rich in Morphia, but the quality is by no means uniform. 



No plant has more engaged the attention of chemists than the Poppy and 

 its products ; but notwithstanding the numerous examinations made, nothing of 

 importance was developed until 1803, when the investigations of Derosne, 

 Seguin, Sertuerner, and others, showed that opium owed its powers to the 

 presence of certain peculiar principles; and later experimenters, in following up 

 the path thus opened to them, have demonstrated that this drug is extremely 

 complex in its composition, containing no less than 17 or 18 constituents, of 

 which Morphia is the most important. These are morphia, narcotina, codeia, 

 narceia, meconine, paramorphia, pseudomorphia, meconic acid, brown ex- 

 tractive, resin, fatty oil, gummy matter, caoutchouc, albumen, volatile oil, 

 lignin, &c. It does not comport with the character of this work to enter into 

 an examination of the methods of separating these various substances, nor 

 their respective action on the human system ; an able abstract on this subject 

 will be found in Pereira's Elements of Materia Medica. 



Effects of Opium. — The precise action of opium on the system has been the 

 subject of much controversy, and the most opposite opinions have been pro- 

 mulgated respecting it ; some regarding it as a direct sedative, while others 

 have asserted that it was a powerful stimulant ; but it is now generally ad- 

 mitted that it may be so given as to obtain from it both these effects, and that 

 whilst the former are primary, and the result of a moderate dose, the latter 

 are secondary, and caused by a larger quantity. When given in a moderate 

 dose to a person not habituated to its use, it first produces excitement of the 

 pulse, with a pleasant exhilaration of mind ; this is followed by a diminution 

 of muscular power and a lessened susceptibility to external impressions, with 



