S58 
ls,lx Y o\mg' on the Preparation • 
properly belongs to the vegetable world, class Cryptogamia, from 
the plants of which iodine is obtained. 
5. It appears that the iodine contained in sponge, is in a dif- 
ferent state of combination from what it is in the other substan- 
ces, as in the former it is not soluble in water, while it is so in 
the latter. 
Art. VI . — On the preparation of Opium in Great Britain, 
By 'John Young, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, 
Edinburgh. Communicated by the Author. 
^ThE natural history of Opium, and the manner of collecting 
and preparing it in the East Indies and in Persia, has been fully 
detailed by Dr Samuel Crump, in his Inquiry into the Nature 
and Properties of Opium. He examined the different accounts 
related by authors, from Dioscorides, Pliny, Kaempfer, and 
many others, till the year 179'^, when his very interesting work 
was completed. 
The preparation of opium in Britain has long been a desidera- 
tum. Premiums have been offered by the Society of Arts, and 
more recently by the Caledonian Horticultural Society. Speci- 
mens of British opium have been produced, and proved to be in 
no degree inferior to the best foreign opium : But it has not yet 
been ascertained that this valuable drug can be cultivated in 
Britain with profit to the grower. 
The few experiments which have been made, were con- 
ducted according to the eastern mode. But the temperature, 
winds and rain of this climate, have hitherto been justly con- 
sidered as insuperable obstacles. Of these the temperature may 
be held as the least objectionable, for the large White Poppy 
( Papaver somniferum of Linnaeus ) from which foreign opium 
is obtained, comes to maturity in this climate. But it is further 
objected, that the high winds beat down the plants, and the 
rains wash off the opium, before it can be collected, when the 
eastern mode of gathering it is practised. It has therefore been 
proposed to cultivate the garden poppy of this country, because 
it is not so liable to be damaged by wind as the large white 
poppy. 
