1830 .] and especially of Opium. 59 
shell, one eighth of the. whole provision is lost, and adds nothing to the price. On 
the other hand, supposing it to he used in preparing their extract, it will be equally 
available, if added to the contents of the ball, while the mixture of the leaves (in the 
case of the leaf shell) must tend greatly to detract from the high flavour and other 
qualities of the extract which they prepare. It is known that the petals of the 
poppy (by the opium dealers termed leaves) furnish an extract which has no narco- 
tic properties, or if any, in a very slight degree; but, on the contrary, irritate consi- 
derably, producing pains in the stomach and bowels. Supposing, then, the shell to be 
used at present, it is evident that it would conduce to the improvement of the drug 
and the raising its character in the market to adopt some other package; while if it 
be not used, such a measure would at once occasion an increase of nearly 18 lacks 
of Rupees in the produce of the two agencies of Patna and Benares. 
This little detail will at least show the importance of the subject, and enable the 
reader the better to appreciate the merit of the following suggestions. These plans 
have been proposed for the purpose of obviating the above objections, and supersed- 
ing tbe present mode of package, both in India and Europe. Of these, the first is 
perhaps, more particularly adapted to the China market, in which a drug of less con- 
sistence is preferred than what is sent to Europe. As the importance, too, of this 
part of the opium trade far exceeds the other, I shall begin by examiningthe advan- 
tages which the adoption of this plan promises. 
It is proposed that the leaves shall be altogether rejected and cloth substituted, the 
opium being still made up in balls as at present, and the paste either added to' the 
contents of the present balls, or reserved for making others, as may appear most ex- 
pedient. The cloth may have consistence given to it by employing several folds 
and using an adhesive paste, which may be made of various materials. Should it 
appear that the extract of the petals is thought essential to the opium used in 
China, it would itself be convertible to this purpose, and I have seen specimens of 
balls prepared in this way. This would afford all the contents of the present pack- 
age without, any of the objections. The great superiority of the new mode of pack- 
age is most obvious on inspection. It forms a hard and impervious shell, which 
promises to afford a much better defence than the old one, which, indeed, has only to 
be seen to be condemned. The utmost, in fact, that can be said of it is, that it is 
better than the exploded arrangement of the tobacco leaves. The cloth package is 
free from. that disposition to absorb moisture from the atmosphere, for which°the 
leaf-shell is so remarkable : though it will sufficiently absorb the moisture from its 
contents, the enclosed opium, and give it out by evaporation to the atmosphere so as 
to ensure sufficient solidity to the opium, and consequently be an effectual cure for 
that sweating and bursting of the balls which is so often a subject of complaint. 
This will be obvious to any one who considers that various substances have various 
degrees of attraction for moisture, and so powerfully hygrometric is opium (the 
chief material of the shell) that it lias been known to absorb in 24 hours 84 per 
cent, of moisture. 2 ^ 
The package, in balls formed of cloth, cemented by means of an adhesive paste, has 
been suggested more under the idea that it might be objectionable to depart too 
much from the established and customary mode of bringing the drug to market than 
as thinking this to he the best package that could be devised. But as it is evident 
that the new package could be introduced by degrees, and not to any extent till the 
preference of the Chinese was clearly manifested, this consideration appears of less 
moment. Something indeed of this kind has already taken place; and this very 
package, that I am about to describe, having been introduced to their notice, had, in 
a small parcel, the effect of enhancing the price of the very same opium in every re- 
spect, 25 per cent. When I say the very same opium I mean of course as it left the 
agency here ; but that the drug will not keep in the leaf-shells, is a fact which has 
already been mentioned, and a reason for it assigned. And herein consists a not 
inconsiderable advantage of tbe new method of package, that the drug will keep for 
almost any period in it, and this even in the moist state in which it"is sent to the 
China market. Let no one smile at the suggested mode of package as bein<>- 
so ridiculously obvious ; — the most effective inventions are frequently the most simple, 
and after their utility has been clearly established, each person is heard expressing 
his wonder that he never thought of it. It is in all matter of invention, the old story 
of Columbus and the egg. 1 
The method proposed is to pack the opium in small kegs. In this way there is 
no possibility of the drug absorbing moisture, or of its undergoing that change or 
fermentation, by which the balls are burst and the value of the article in the market 
