THE ICEW MUSEUMS. 
145 
purposes or for soap-making, but seldom for culinary purposes. 
Again, in the Rubiacecs a bitter principle prevails in the barks, 
which furnish us with that invaluable medicine, quinine. That 
most important commodity, caoutchouc or india-rubber, is ob- 
tained exclusively from plants belonging to three natural orders, 
namely, Apocynacea, Euphovbicicecz and the section of Urticacecc 
known as Artocarpccs. 
A little knowledge of this kind helps us more easily to a right 
appreciation of the natural orders, and their value in furnishing 
us with articles of daily necessity. Let us further illustrate this 
by a glance at a few of the cases in Museum No. 1, which will 
serve as an example of all the rest. The cases are numbered ; 
commencing on the top floor, the first order is Rammculacecs , 
or the Buttercup family. The characteristic property of the 
order is its acrid and poisonous nature. The most important 
plant from an economic point of view is perhaps the Aconite 
(A conitum Napellus), a widely diffused plant growing chiefly in 
mountainous districts of the temperate parts of the northern 
hemisphere, and well known as an old-fashioned English garden 
plant. From the roots or rhizomes is obtained a crystalline 
substance known as Aconitine — one of the most powerful poisons 
known. Aconite root, as it is generally called, is much used in 
medicine in the preparation of a tincture as an anodyne liniment 
for rheumatic and neuralgic affections. 
Passing some of the less important natural orders, we come 
to the Poppy family ( Papaveracece ), and in the cases devoted to 
this natural order is a very complete set of specimens illustrat- 
ing the growth, preparation and uses of opium, one of the most 
valuable medicinal products known, and yielded by the fruits or 
capsules of Papavev somniferum. The opium poppy is cultivated 
very largely in Asia Minor, India and China, though in the 
latter country its culture is supposed to be prohibited, but 
yielding as it does a very large revenue its growth is winked at by 
the authorities. The cultivation of the opium poppy has been 
attempted in this country, notably in the medical gardens at 
Bodicote, near Banbury ; but though the plant grows well it does 
not yield sufficient opium to make it remunerative. The collec- 
tion and preparation of opium may be briefly described as 
follows : — When the capsules are sufficiently matured they 
are punctured or scratched longitudinally with small lancets ; 
the juice then exudes in a milk-like form, partially solidifying 
on the capsule, when it is scraped off with a kind of a spatula, 
and moulded, in Patna into large round balls which are covered 
with the dry poppy petals ; in Asia Minor it is made into lumps, 
irregular both in size and shape. In India the opium is used 
both for eating and smoking, but in English commerce its use 
is chiefly medicinal, and in consequence of the produce of Asia 
Minor being much richer in the valuable alkaloids it fetches a 
much higher price than the Indian product. The opium series in 
the Kew Museum shews the whole process of opium manufac- 
