7S2 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[April 1,1871. 
The springs rising at the junction of the Great 
Oolite with the fuller’s earth at the north-east side 
of Hampton Down, contain as much as ’05 grain 
nitric acid per gallon, and yet the land is never 
manured, a few sheep only grazing on it, and there 
is not a house or any drainage near it. 
Again, the Monkswood spring, about four miles from 
Bath, which is going to form part of our new supply, 
contains as much as 1'28 grains per gallon, but if you 
will carefully go over the ground for a mile or two 
all round as I have done (and the spring, from its 
splendid volume and picturesque surroundings, will 
well repay a visit), you will fail to find any sufficient 
source of contamination. The spring, like all those 
that have percolated through the inferior Oolite, 
contains more nitrates than those which rise above 
that stratum, and this is easily to be accounted for, 
from the stratum being so very fossiliferous. 
According to the reports of the Registrar-General, 
in the Times, Professor Frankland regards the amount 
of nitrates in a water as necessarily the result of 
the oxidation of sewage matter; and from the ni¬ 
trates present he actually calculates how great “ the 
previous sewage contamination” has been. 
We have seen, however, that nitrates may be pre¬ 
sent in a water in very appreciable quantities with¬ 
out there having been any sewage contamination at 
all, and consequently the term “previous sewage 
contamination” is, to say the least, very misleading. 
THE CULTIVATION OF OPIUM IN CHINA. 
BY JOHN E. JACKSON, A.L.S., 
CURATOR OF THE MUSEUM, KEW. 
It is interesting to note to what extent the culti¬ 
vation of the poppy for the production of opium 
varies in different districts of China. From time to 
time its growth has been forbidden by proclamations 
from the Emperor, the penalty for growing it being 
death. Small quantities have been nevertheless 
constantly grown; for instance, ten years ago all 
the opium that was produced in Szechuen was 
grown in small patches of gardens, ostensibly for the 
amusement of the owners, but specially for the value 
of the crop. It is a fact that, though the proclama¬ 
tion is still in effect, the executive authorities have 
found it necessary to take no official cognizance of 
the existence of the plants; and it is significant of 
the impotence or the venality of the Chinese autho¬ 
rities, or the discord between the imperial and pro¬ 
vincial governments, that the white poppy fields 
may be seen on the most conspicuous places on the 
great river route while the cultivation of it is nomi¬ 
nally punishable with death. That the cultivation 
ot opium in China is actually increasing cannot be 
denied, though it is still, in some districts, planted 
with great secrecy ; small patches of land under its 
cultivation being hidden by fields of tall millet, and 
when so situated are quite safe from any interference 
from revenue officers. 
Notwithstanding the increase in the production of 
Chinese opium, and the consequent decrease during 
the past year or two of the importation into China 
of the Indian drug, the question still remains whe¬ 
ther the native will drive the Indian produce out of the 
market, or depress the latter so much as to seriously 
affect its importation and price. In point of strength 
or flavour the Indian is far superior to the Chinese, 
the latter averaging 40 per cent, less in price. It is 
its cheapness that is one of its chief recommenda¬ 
tions in the Chinese market, and, being purchased 
at such a reduced price, it is often mixed with the 
Indian drug. 
With regard to the conditions under which Indian 
opium now enters the Chinese market, the following 
notes contained in a recent report on the subject will 
better explain them than any words of our own :— 
“ Mahva opium is cultivated by native growers in 
the province of Malwa and the adjacent and cen¬ 
tral provinces of India,—the land upon which the 
crops are grown paying to the Government the cus¬ 
tomary ground-rent. The farmers, upon gathering 
in their crops, offer the juice of the poppy daily upon 
the nearest country markets, and it is there pur¬ 
chased by other natives (who may be denominated 
packers), who, in their turn, pack the drug in balls, 
and thus prepare it for transmission to Bomba}”. 
These packers then sell the opium, thus prepared, to 
other native merchants, who purchase it especially 
for sale upon the market of Bombay, where export¬ 
ing and foreign merchants buy it for shipment to 
Cliina, etc. The importing Bombay merchant, be¬ 
fore attempting to take the drug to Bombay from the 
hand of the packer, has first to procure a pass from 
the Government treasury, costing COO rupees per 
chest, which pass frees the opium from further taxa¬ 
tion in transitu , certifying that the drug has paid its 
duty. Upon reaching the market in Bombay, as 
aforesaid, it is purchased by the exporting mer¬ 
chants, who, before operating, naturally base their 
calculations on the China demand and quotations; 
and thus the market in Bombay, and necessarily 
throughout the producing districts, is governed by 
the market of China. The quantity placed under 
cultivation by the growers is also almost entirely de¬ 
pendent upon the demand, both of the present as well 
as of the preceding season; and thus the crops 
usually range from 35,000 to 50,000 chests per 
annum. No opium is allowed by the English Go¬ 
vernment to be reimported into India. It may be as 
well here to state that, during the past three or four 
years, the demand for China having decreased, the 
cultivation in India has been lessened in like de¬ 
gree. 
“ Of the Bengal drug there are two descriptions, 
—one, called Patna (produced in the province of 
Behar), and the other Benares, from the province of 
that name, where it is grown. Both descriptions are 
cultivated entirely by the Government itself, which 
employs men for the special purpose of cultivating 
the poppy, collecting the juice, inspecting and pack¬ 
ing it into balls. The drug is supposed to cost the 
Government, laid down in Calcutta, 400 rupees per 
chest. On arrival of the drug into the Government 
godowns at Calcutta, it is sold by public auction, in 
lots of five chests, to the highest bidder. On the fall 
of the hammer, the buyer has always the option of 
there and then securing as many succeeding lots as 
he visiles at the same rate as the lot he has just 
bought. The purchaser of any parcels has to pay, 
on the fall of the hammer, bargain money at the 
rate of Rs. 50.100 per chest, and the balance of 
purchase money within a fortnight. It is not com¬ 
pulsory, however, to take immediate delivery of the 
opium, as the Government allow it to remain, free of 
warehouse charge, for an indefinite period. 
“ These auctions take place once every month, a 
limit of 400 rupees per chest being placed on the 
