OPIUM. 
7 intoa cup. It grew folid as opium, and being formed 
alump, appeared uniformly whi aa nor was there any 
difference 1 in the juice of different. poppi 
Secondly, the doétor obfetves, that <7 extra& and in- 
Spiffated juice fearce any where refemble opium ; nor is their 
tafte and {mell like it. The extra& appears black when 
dried, and fo does the juice, but when diluted, the firft is 
brown and the latter green. The extract is tough and ad- 
hefive, the juice rough and friable, - grows mouldy a 
‘day or two after expreffion. Opium may poffibly be mixed 
with either of thefe; and the greenifh-brown opium may 
have fome {mall portion of the juice in it. Its penetrating 
f{mell is certainly owing to the mixture of fome aromatic 
fubftance 
Thirdly, opium contains more _ in than either the in- 
f{piffated juice or extr opium appears to 
be refin, while the juice and ae ean yield one-tenth 
art. 
par 
Fourthly, if opium was not the tear of the poppy, there 
would be no occafion for fow =e fo many fields with pop- 
pies in Egypt, and other places. Nor would it be fo power- 
ful a medicine, for its aude virtues depend chiefly on the 
milky juice 
Itisa sopulee error that there is any fuch thing as white 
opium; for though the juice, as it runs from the eads of 
the poppies, = of a milk-colour, it ee becomes fade 
very deep brown as it thickens. herever it 
yellowifh or foft, it is a fign that the j see ie not aa fe 
enough. 
oft of the opium fold at Conftantinople is yee from 
Anatolia, from a place called, he the Turks, Aphi 
ape te e Black. oo o 
the territory of ig 
was sforerl ous n lb opium: this differs from the me- 
ich w e by the ancients of the expreffed 
juice a = decostion of aoe Poppy a shares they juttly deemed 
the m multum opio igna 
Opium, accusing to the als of Dr. Alfton, con- 
fifts of five partsin twelve of gum, four of refin, and three 
of earth, or other es - diffolvable either in watery 
m thefe laft it is purified, in 
e gt umm 
finous parts pafs the {trainer together ; whereas, 
by alarger quantity, they would feparate from one another. 
Suppofing that the refin of opium is as good, or as much 
wanted as the gum, or the eee part, Grady will 
be found the beft menftruu 
The m ae active sansa of opium are very fixed; for 
it keeps » and, when forty years old, remains hard, 
folid, ia sire its tafte: and it feems that ‘the practice of 
roafting opium, in order to correct it, by divefting it of its 
narcotic part, is of no fervice; and many other procefles 
h en prop vi correcting the ill aaa: which opium 
is fuppofed to poffefs, befides roafting it 3 fuch ae fermenta- 
,on diftillation, as Hom 
serene Pa determine its aétion to he cutaneous pores ; 
an ds almofl entirely deftroy its forc 
Gee a chemical analyfis, opium fis hlegm, urinous 
fpirit, oil, a volatile and a fixed falt, and Forme ela 3 but 
little of the virtues of opium can be inveftigated, ore 
plained, from its ree fince fimples, extremely different 
as to their effects on human bodies, afford the fame principles 
erg has fhewn by the analyfis of the 
deadly a eigen and cabbage. See Mem. de!’ Acad. des 
— an. 1 
ae find the pir be of opium in the above 
seared sifertation by Dr. Alftor 
pium is regarded as bad when it is very foft or friable, 
of an fifentely cas colour, or when mixed with many im 
purities. A wea te es odour, {weetifh tafte, 
or the power of ma rawn acrofs paper, a 
arta continuous freak, 2 alto indications of inferior 
ium, 
on opium has a peculiar, ftrong, heavy, ps oe odour, 
and a bitter tafte, ee with a fenfation 
a biting on the ton s, if it be well ch Its 
colour, when goud, is ct ak brown, and its texture 
compa& and uniform. Whe en foft, it is ten raand but 
fluid : thos Beaumé afferts, that the odorous part of the 
opium is an o When cael pee with hot water, 
about five parts in twelve of the opium are diffolved and re- 
tained in folution, nearly fix parts are fimply fufpended, and 
rather more than one part remains perfectly infoluble, ofa 
vifcid, rape _ fomewhat refembling the gluten of 
wheat, but of a colour. This was regarded by Bu- 
cholz = enoutchoue eared to a it pres wax ; 
and uppofe to be analogous to glu 
Tho re on "(Lo ndon Difpeniatory) a that by “diffolving 
alcohol on this fubftance, he ban a {mall portion of it ait 
folved, acquiring a reddi I 
, when added to water. 
The infoluble part, after the a 
was fubjected to a fet of comparative on 
luten of wheat, when it afforded fimilar vefulte with the 
majority of the teftsemployed. Hence, this part of Tur- 
key opium appears to be a modification of gluten combined 
with refin, extractive, and a peculiar falt. 
Eaft Indian opium has a ftrong empyreumatic {mell, and 
lefs of the peculiar narcotic heavy odour of the Turkey 
; the tafte is equally bitter, but more naufeous, and 
it has lefs acrimony : it agrees with the Turkey opium in 
its other fenfible qualities, except that its colour is blacker, 
and its texture lefs compa nd when sana ng with 
water no infoluble plattic refidaum is left, but it is alto. 
gether taken up; eight parts in a being diffolved, and 
the remainder fufpended in the 
The aqueous folutions of both “kinds of opium are tranf- 
parent when filtered, that of ifie Eaft Indian fort havin ng 
the deepeft brown colour; neither is decompofed by aicu- 
hol, but both are precipitated by the dag! of potath, 
although the pure alkali does not affe& them ; they are alfo 
precipitated falutons of the muriate and nitrate of mer+ 
30 cury, 
