60 
On the Package of Drugs. 
[Feb. 
so much deteriorated. Nor would there be any difficulty in keeping opium not 1 
merely for one season, but for several, in such a package. Its convenience in other 
respects is so obvious as to require no observation. It would add increased facili- 
ties to the trade in China, as being, if necessary, so easily sunk without any risk to 
the article, to be fished up again when required. It is quite evident, that nothing of 
this kind could be done with the present chests. The great advantage it would have 
over the present mode of package would be the annual saving of the paste, amount- 
ing to 18 lacks of Rupees. Over the proposed method of the cloth-shells it would' 
not have this advantage, but it would that of greater security and greater conveni- 
ence. And that these advantages are none of them illusory, it has been found, as 
before stated, that the same opium sent in shells and in kegs, sold in China, the lat- 
ter for 25 percent, advance on the former. If to this we add the fact of the former 
having for the same nominal weight one-eighth of opium more than the latter, we 
shall see that the. real difference of returns is 38 per cent, in favor of the keg-pack- 
age over the present or leaf-shell package. 
But the most ingenious of the three proposed improvements is that which I am 
now to describe; and as it is applicable to any costly drug as well as to opium, Iain 
in hopes my description may not be without its use. It lias this advantage over 
either of the others, that the package itself would form a very good remittance either 
in the Chinese or European market. It is particularly adapted too for keeping small 
quantities of any substance likely to deteriorate from the contact of air. In parti- 
cular I should think it would” be admirable for camphor, asafeetida, rhubarb, 
ipecacuanha, jalap, and indeed for all substances that require to be kept well dosed 
in order to preserve their virtues. 
This package is made of Bees’ Wax. By means of a mould formed of two square 
boxes made of the required size, one fitting within the other, the space between being 
equal to the required thickness of the wax package, a box intermediate in size to 
the two wooden ones is cast by pouring melted wax between them. The inner one 
has three small nails driven into the bottom, on which it rests, so as to keep it at a 
proper distance, and both boxes are well damped previously to pouring in the wax, 
that it may not adhere. On removing the inner wooden box, a similar but smaller 
wax one is found lining the outer box, from which it is easily detached. The lid is 
then cast separately, and at the time of closing the package, is. cemented by a hot 
iron. Previously to introducing the contents of the package, it is lined with plates 
of mica, which is a substance procurable in every bazar. This is to prevent the con- 
tact of the drug with the wax, and so fitted up, it really seems to me to form one of 
the least exceptionable packages for costly drugs that can be devised. Opium, in 
such packages, will keep for any length of time without deterioration, and, by parity 
of reasoning, so will any other drug- The former has been opened after two years, 
and found as fresh as when first gathered. When it is considered too, that this 
envelope has no properties calculated to impair the opium, that it is itself a valuable 
article, the price of which will be added to that of the drug, its great superiority over 
the leaf-shell will be at once acknowledged. I have seen packages of this kind pre- 
pared by the inventor, and holding 5 seers of opium, which were obviously superior 
to the old package. Being made of a square form, they pack conveniently, and with 
an equal bearing all round ; whereas the balls, by being in contact only at one point 
on each side, the weight or momentum, when moved, of the whole chest is co-operat- 
ing with any fermentation or absorption of damp to break the balls. Once broken, 
though but a few, the evil must increase ; and indeed the wonder is that much greater 
losses are not sustained with this most imperfect method of putting up a valuable 
drug. The new method not only obviates all these objections, but offers the same 
facility as the keg, of sinking a cargo of opium ; as it is quite evident that witksuch 
envelopes opium might remain under water for almost any period without suffering 
injury. 
The wax packages described, were generally small, seldom capable of containing 
more than 2 seers, but they may be used of very considerable size, merely by 
strengthening them with an external wooden case. When this kind of package i» 
required, the outer box of the mould must form the external covering of the wax; and 
to make the latter adhere to it, it is not damped, but only the interior part of the 
mould. When the latter is removed, the wax will he found to form a lining to the 
wooden box, rendering it quite impervious to moisture, and no doubt strengthening 
even the wooden box. The plates of talc being now affixed, it becomes an unexcep- 
tionable package. 
An Opium Eater* 
