224 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [September 16,1871. 
Karsten lias revived the interest in the question in 
Germany, and in several parts of the country trials 
have been made with most favourable results. 
Experiments made at the acclimatization fields, 
near Berlin, proved that the giant, the blue and 
the white poppy were best suited for the production 
-of seed on that soil; these three varieties were 
therefore planted on a well-manured sandy soil, and 
the opium obtained therefrom showed all the ex¬ 
ternal qualities of a good Smyrna sample, analysed. 
Soluble in. 
Water. 
Organic 
Bases. 
Of which 
Morphium. 
Giant Poppy. 
Blue „ 
White „ 
66-3 per ct. 
704 „ 
69-6 „ 
13-6 per ct. 
107 „ 
8-0 „ 
9*3 per ct. 
8-0 „ 
The last sample was in too small a quantity to give 
exact results. 
In I860, several experiments made near Berlin, 
viz. at Pankow, Cliarlottenburg and Hermsdorff, 
yielded opium containing 10 per cent, of mor- 
pliium. 
Karsten sowed the seed in two lines about 6 
inches apart, and separated by about 2 feet distance 
from the next two hues, so as to allow free passage 
in gathering in the opium; the young plants were 
kept asunder about 3 to 4 inches. 
About eight days after florescence the poppies 
•were cut, and the milk juice, a few minutes after¬ 
wards, collected with the finger in a vessel, and at 
once evaporated at a gentle heat; the result was of 
superior quality, containing 00 per cent, soluble in 
water, and 10 per cent, of morphia An instrument 
called the scarificator, for making the incisions, was 
not approved of, but the most suitable instrument was 
an ordinary garden-knife or penknife, provided with 
a guard to prevent its making the incisions so deep 
as to cut through the capsules. This is of great im¬ 
portance, because the cutting through of the poppy- 
lieads is invariably followed by a shrivelling up of 
the young fruit, so that not only the juice but also 
the seed is lost. 
Mr. Schulze, a schoolmaster at Pankow, com¬ 
menced in 1867, and he also found it best to collect 
the fresh juice, instead of allowing it spontaneously 
to dry on the fruits, giving a much purer quality. 
Dr. Harz received samples of the opium produced, 
and found it to contain 10‘9 per cent, of morphia; 
after having been kept for some time in a paper box, 
it showed the following properties:—It was tough 
and tolerably hard, greyish-brown, somewhat like 
German lactucarium, forming a mass of tears of the 
size of a pea, of waxy surface when cut, with diffi¬ 
culty reduced to a light grey powder. The smell 
was intense, stronger than that of Smyrna opium, 
and also resembling lactucarium; the taste exactly 
like that of best Smyrna. 
The tincture made according to the Prussian 
Pharmacopoeia was slightly brown, somewhat like 
Madeira wine, scarcely one-third so intense in 
colour as the tincture made from Turkish opium, 
according to English prescription. Analysis of the 
sample dried at 100° C. gave, soluble in cold water 49 
per cent.; the insoluble consisted chiefly of narco¬ 
tine, of a resinous mass 7 per cent., and caoutchouc 
and fat soluble in chloroform 14 per cent. 
The aqueous extract, containing 49 per cent, of 
the opium, and containing besides morphia scarcely 
1 per cent, of other bases, was brought nearly to 
dryness in a water-bath, and extracted with alcohol. 
There remained 9'4 per cent, of gummy substances 
and'_ J organic salts; the filtrate mixed with water 
gave, on gradual addition of ammonia, after ten 
days, 10’9 per cent, crystals of morphia. 
The opium was therefore of very good quality, 
and the separation of morphia was facilitated by the 
lighter colour of the juice. 
In 1868, opium cultivation was commenced at 
several places in Wiirtemberg. Mr. Julius Jobst, 
of Stuttgart, made experiments, which are very 
valuable, because as the first on a really large scale 
they established the profitable character of the specu¬ 
lation. Several acres of land were sown with poppy¬ 
seed ; a fortnight after the fall of the petals the young 
heads were cut, and the juice collected; this was 
repeated a second time, but a third incision did not 
yield enough to pay for the labour. The best time 
for the incision is the early morning, shortly after 
sunrise; on hot days, and especially in the middle of 
the day, only very little juice was produced. The 
exuded juice, after slight desiccation, was collected 
in a tin box, the pasty mass was dried in the shade, 
and wrapped up in poppy-leaves in the shape of 
small loaves; the manufactured opium formed dark 
brown cakes, and contained 13 per cent, of mor¬ 
phia. 
Mr. Vulpius, pharmacist at Bocksberg, near Hei¬ 
delberg, produced some opium in 1870, samples of 
which are now in Dr. Harz’s possession for analysis. 
Dr. P. Sorauer made, at the same time, successful 
experiments at the Agricultural Experimental Esta¬ 
blishment at Dalime, near Berlin; he made the im¬ 
portant observation, that the incised capsules yielded 
more seed than the sound ones, which would increase 
the profit in a new direction. 
The manufacture of olive oil is, in Austria, in a 
very primitive state, and large sums of money go 
out of the country to be invested in good salad oil, 
which if kept at home, and laid out in opium cultiva¬ 
tion, would assist in manufacturing a pure poppy 
oil, exceeding in agreeable taste the olive oil. The 
incisions must be made in fourteen to eighteen days 
after the petals have dropped, and, according to 
Jobst’s experience, in early morning. Gastimel, of 
Cairo, in the Journal de JJliarm. et de C'him. 1865, 
draws attention to the fact, that opium obtained 
from nearly ripe poppies yielded 10 to 12 per cent, of 
morphia, while another sample, collected directly 
after florescence, gave a pretty large yield, but con¬ 
tained only 3 to 4 per cent, of the alkaloid. The 
condition of the soil is of course of importance, 
although opinions differ on this point; Gastimel 
finds a well-manured soil to yield opium rich in 
morphia, while Figari-Bey comes to the reverse 
conclusion, and the last view is strengthened by Dr. 
O’Shaughnessy, who observed in East India that 
opium grown on manured soil contained less mor¬ 
phia than that from an unmanured soil. Certain it 
is, that newly manured soil acts unfavourably upon 
the poppy-seed. 
In order fully to develope the opiiun cultivation 
at home, it will be necessary to settle the following 
questions, viz.:— 
1. Which variety of poppy produces most seed and 
the best opium, richest in morphia ? 
2. What influences does the quality of the soil 
(presence of chalk, manure, etc.) exercise upon the 
formation of the two products ? 
