Mr Young m the Preparation Poppy Oil. 15 
The sale of the article, however, was clandestinely encouraged, 
and gradually increased, until the year 1735, when the court 
issued a severer decree, enjoining the superintendants to mix a 
certain quantity of the extract of turpentine with every cask con- 
taining 1100 lb. of this oil, of which not less than 2000 casks 
were consumed in Paris alone. 
But the secret demand for it increased till the year 1773, 
when a society of agriculture undertook to examine all that had 
been alleged for and against the general use of this oil. Expe- 
riments were repeated in the presence of the most distinguished 
chemists, and the society presented a petition to the Minister ot 
Police, setting forth the great advantages that would accrue, 
both to commerce and agriculture, by reversing the prohibition. 
This society again made several experiments in the year 1776, 
and finally confirmed the decree of the faculty in 1717, declar- 
ing that the oil of poppies was not inj urious to the health ; that 
it did not contain a narcotic power, and that it might be recom- 
mended to general use with the utmost safety. From that time 
to the present, the cultivation of the poppy has not met with 
any formidable opposition, and has increased to such a degree, 
both in France and Brabant, that they have been able to export 
a considerable surplus, to the great advantage of the husband- 
man as well as the merchant ; and in seasons of scarcity it has 
been found of the most essential service in all cases where the 
use of oil was required. In the northern parts of France, it was 
used by soap-boilers as a substitute for other oils, which were 
extremely dear ; and in Brabant the oil-cakes are constantly used 
as food for cattle, with obvious benefit. 
It is well known that maw-seed, obtained from a variety of 
the poppy, has long been used in this country for feeding birds*: 
I have a canary that has been fed upon white poppy-seed for 
many months ; and I supplied a person with this seed who breeds 
canary birds for sale. He gives them nothing else to eat, and 
observes that they thrive as well as when fed upon common 
seed. According to Dr Alston % the poppy seed is used in food 
in some places, as well as the expressed oil, which, he says, is as 
innocent and wholesome as olive oil. And Mr Kerr ■[“ relates, 
• Edin. Med. Essays, vol. v. p. IIG. *!• Land. Med. Observ. vol. v. p. 319. 
