170 
ORDER POr YGVNrA. 
sixty shillings a pound, and for many years its great price limited 
its use to the most wealthy. 
The poppy (Papaver) is a fine example of this class and order. ^ 
Its numerous stamens standing upon the receptacle aroimd the base , 
of the germ, and its large stigma, with the two sepals of a caducous* 
calyx, are conspicuous characters. Single poppies have but four 
petals ; but the change of stamens to petals is very common in this ■ 
flower, and most of the cultivated poppies are double. From the ■ 
papavar somniferum. is obtained the opium of commerce. The juice 
which issues from incisions in the green capsules, is dried in the sun, 
and usually made into cakes. Six hundred thousand pounds of this 
drug are said to be annually exported from the banks of the Ganges. 
The narcotic property of opium renders it highly valuable as a med- 
icine. Why it is that certain substances, acting upon the human sys- 
tem, have power to affect the mind, no physiologist has yet been 
able to explain. But in the power of fermented liquors to produce 
changes in the mind, or of opium to lull its faculties into temporary 
oblivion, there is nothing more wonderful, than that the presence of 
light should produce vision, or the vibrations of the air, sound. AiJ 
are equally beyond our knowledge ; we may trace a series of organic 
changes, but the last Knk of the chain, that which connects body and 
soul, is concealed from our observation. Though narcotics can for 
a time, 
" Rase put the written troubles of the brain, 
And, with a sweet oblivious antidote, 
Cleanse the full bosom of that perilous stuff / 
Which weij^hs upon the heart," 
yet, they who attempt to drown sorrow by artificial means, w^hetner 
of the intoxicating bowl or the stupifying opium, find their sensi- 
bilities return with aggravated terrors. When properly used to 
allay bodily anguish, the product of the poppy may be considered 
one of our greatest blessings ; but like all our blessings, it may, by its 
abuse, be made a curse. 
The genus Citrus^ which contains the orange and lemon, is found 
here. Jussieu places this in his order Aurantia^ or golden fruits. 
The fruit is a berry with a thick coat. It furnishes citric acid. 
Few valuable fruits, with the exception of this genus, are found in 
the class Polyandria. 
Order Di-pentagynia. 
The four orders following Monogynia, are, as in the preceding 
class, united into one, called as before, Di-pentagynia, having from 
two to five styles. 
We find here some plants of a poisonous nature, as the Larkspur, 
Monk's-hood, and the Columbine ; these belong to the natural order 
RanunculacecB, which contains also the Ranunculus or crow-foot, 
the anemone and gold-thread, (Coptis.) 
In the same natural and artificial order we find the Peony, {Pao- 
nia,) a large and showy floww, which, in its native state, has a calyx 
with 5 sepals, a corolla with 5 petals ; 2 or three germs, each crown- 
ed by a stigma ; the capsules or carpels are the same in number as 
the germs ; each contains several seeds ; this flower is remarkable 
for becoming double by cultivation. 
Order Polygynia. 
This order is divided into two sections: 1st, flowers with no ca- 
Poppy — Opium — Power of opium and fermented liquors to affect the mind— Gen »3 
Citrus— Order Di-pentagynia— Natural order Ranunculacese— Peony — Order Pojy 
Rynia. 
