148 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [August 20 ,1370. 
central parts of Europe is also frequently applied to 
therapeutic purposes—because it contains a larger quan¬ 
tity of albumen and casein. 
“ Still more important than the total amount of the 
solid matter, is the amount of casein and albumen. Ex¬ 
cepting mares’ milk, which is excessively poor in this 
respect, human milk is the poorest, containing only 4 
per cent, of casein, whilst cows’ milk contains nearly 5 
per cent., with more than ^ per cent, albumen. In direct 
opposition to the latter stands asses’ milk, with only 
2 per cent, casein and albumen; for this reason it is 
beneficially employed in inflammatory chronic diseases, 
in which the supply of nitrogenous matter must be 
confined within moderate limits. Goats’ milk, with of 
per cent, of casein and albumen, is particularly charac¬ 
terized by its large amount of albumen, which is I 5 per 
cent., while sheep’s milk is in this particular again the 
richest, since of 5f per cent, of casein and albumen, as 
much as If are albumen. 
“Asses’ milk contains also the smallest quantity of 
butter, whilst cows’ and human milk contain 4| per 
cent., sheep’s milk nearly 6 per cent., goats’ milk nearly 
7 per cent. Goats’ and sheep’s milk contain, again, the 
largest amount of hydrocarbons; the sheep exhibiting 
the enormous value of the nourishing constituents of its 
milk by its containing Ilf per cent, of proteine matters 
and hydrocarbons. 
“ The milk sugar amounts on the average to 4 per 
cent, in the milk of the cow, goat, and sheep, while there 
is more than 5 per cent, in the milk of the ass. 
“The salts, chlorides of the alkalies, earths, etc., 
amount to I or f per cent, on the average in different 
kinds of milk. The large amount of milk-sugar in 
mares’ milk, viz. 8 per cent., only moderately increases 
its nutritive value, but renders it prone to alcoholic 
fermentation, whence arises its manifold application in 
the ‘ Koumyss ’ cure treatment practised amongst Tartar 
tribes.” 
POPPY CULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. 
In order to supply the requirements of American phar¬ 
macy, the cultivation of the poppy has been commenced 
in various parts of North America. According to the 
‘Journal de Pharmacie d’Anvers,’ the Californian agri¬ 
culturists have tried it upon a large scale, and as they 
have been assisted by the extensive experience of the 
Chinese, great numbers of whom are now settled in the 
State, the experiment has succeeded very well. 
There is much in this enterprise to tempt the farmer. 
It is well known that the poppy will grow in almost 
every kind of soil, and in nearly all climates, and that it 
needs very little skill for its cultivation. The amount 
of labour, too, required for collecting the opium is small. 
No process can be more simple than to split open the 
poppy-head when it is mature, and to extract from it 
the milky juice; this is rolled into a ball by means of a 
spatula with as much ease as a dairymaid forms a roll of 
butter. Twenty-four hours afterwards, the opium is 
ready for sale. 
The poppy is also cultivated in Louisiana. Last 
spring a farmer planted seven acres with it there, and 
he hopes to collect fifty pounds of opium per acre. This 
would be an excellent return; but much depends, as in 
the case of cotton, upon the rapidity with which the 
gathering is done. 
The ‘ Journal of Applied Chemistry,’ in a recent num¬ 
ber, states that Mr. C. Wilson, of Monkton, Vermont, 
sowed in the spring of 1868, rather more than six and a 
quarter acres with opium poppy seed. The yield from 
the gathered juice of the poppy-heads, or capsules, was 
140 pounds, which, when dried, became marketable 
opium. For this the grower obtained prices ranging 
from eight to ton dollars per pound, from druggists and 
physicians in New England. The opium furnished 6-25 
per cent, of morphine. It is stated by Professor Proctor, 
that with greater care in obtaining the pure juice of the 
capsules, the opium might be made to yield 10 per cent, 
of morphia. The proportion of this alkaloid which the 
best Turkey opium is capable of affording, varies from 9 
to 14 per cent. 
LARGE DOSE 3 OF CHLORAL. 
The following account of the effect of an overdose of 
chloral upon the writer, who was suffering from insomnia, 
has been furnished to the ‘ Lancet’:— 
“ With the exception of want of sleep, I am otherwise 
in good health. I have found out that alcohol, taken in 
excess, will in my case procure sleep; but in it I have 
no sort of inclination to indulge, and therefore it is that 
I am obliged to have recourse to narcotics. I have tried 
morphia, both bimeconate and muriate, and have expe¬ 
rienced from its exhibition anorexia, nausea, and want of 
energy ; cannabis indica almost provoked delirium, and 
bromide of potassium had no effect whatever. So you 
may be sure I was delighted when I saw the first account 
of hydrate of chloral in your Journal. I procured a 
supply without delay, and for months had the intense 
delight of refreshing sleep, waking in the morning with 
a good appetite, and fit for any amount of work. But, 
alas ! its effects were not lasting. In the beginning 20 
grains would have the desired effect; but latterly I have 
often taken as much as a drachm without any effect at 
all. On the night of the 2nd August I took 1 drachm 
of the hydrate of chloral at about 11 o’clock, and soon 
after went to bed. At 1, finding myself hot, restless 
and weary, I determined to take another dose. I could 
find no matches in the room, and, as I did not like to 
alarm the house, I took the bottle of chloral syrup (20 
grains to 1 drachm), took a mouthful, and again sought 
sleep, but with no better result. Being teased, wearied 
and stupefied, but without any inclination to sleep, I 
again sought the syrup, and again took another very 
large mouthful. I was scarcely in bed when I was fast 
asleep and slept soundly from about 2 till half-past 10 
in the morning. A servant, who had occasion to enter 
my room about 6 in the morning, says that I was then 
snoring loudly. I was called at 10 o’clock and aroused 
with some difficulty. When I tried to get out of bed, I 
found, to my horror, that I had no control whatever over 
my legs from the knees down. I could not stand ; my 
legs tottered, and I should have fallen had I not clung 
to the bedpost. I wish your readers to understand that 
I had the use of every part of my frame, except from the 
knees down. With the aid of a servant I dressed my¬ 
self, and proceeded as well as I could to descend the 
stairs. In doing so I had several stumbles, and should 
have fallen were it not for my servant’s support. I 
made a hearty breakfast and went about my business as 
usual, the only inconvenience I felt being the unsteadi¬ 
ness of my gait and a slight diminution of sensation 
about the lower extremities. On measuring the quan¬ 
tity remaining in the bottle, and knowing exactly how 
much it contained when I took the first dose on the night 
of the 2nd of August, I find that between the hours of 
II and 2 I swallowed about 7 drachms of chloral! Had 
I made a similar blunder with any of the other narcotics 
I have mentioned, I fear I should now be in that region 
where ‘the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary 
are at rest.’ ” 
ANTINEURALGIC OINTMENT. 
BY M. ROUALT. 
Aqueous Extract of Belladonna . . 14 grms. 
Extract of Opium. 2 ,, 
Lard.14 „ 
Mix. Rub the parts affected by neuralgic pains with a 
piece the size of a hazel-nut. The friction should be 
continued for eight or ten minutes, or until the grease 
is completely absorbed .—Journal de Pharm. et de Chimie. 
