374 
Opium to be left with several eminent chemists for their analysis and judg¬ 
ment; in consequence of which, the following preparations were laid before 
the Committee by those Gentlemen, viz. 
Extract of English Opium in proof spirit. 
Hard Extract of English Opium. 
Watery extract of English Opium of the late Dispensatory. 
Tincture of English Opium of the present Pharmacopoeia. 
Tincture of English Opium of the late Dispensatory. 
English Opium powdered. 
Similar preparations of fine foreign Opium were produced in com- 
pari son. 
Erom the general result of these experiments it appears, that Mr. Jones s 
English Opium is equal in quality to fine foreign Opium; and the cer¬ 
tainty of its growth in this country, preparation, and efficacy, fairly esta¬ 
blished. 
The Palma Christi, or Ricinus, whence comes our Castor oil, the mildest 
purgative almost we possess, might most probably be naturalized to this cli¬ 
mate. Dr. Woodville gives a plate of this plant, shewing its curious pal- 
mated leaf and flowers, taken from a fine plant flourishing in the garden of 
Dr. Saunders, at Highbury Terrace, Islington. The American Palma Christi 
rises with a strong herbaceous stalk to the height of ten or twelve feet; the 
joints are at a great distance from each other; the stalk and branches are of 
a grey colour; the leaves are large, and on long foot-stalks; they are deeply 
divided into seven lobes, and are grey on their under side. The flowers are 
disposed in long spikes, which spring from the division of the branches: the 
males are placed on the lower part of the spike; the females,, which occupy 
the upper part, have prickly calyxes. 
This plant, which in our gardens is annual and herbaceous, in Africa be ¬ 
comes a tree.* In Candia it continues many years, and according to Belon, 
requires a ladder to come at the seeds. Clusius relates, that he observed it 
in Spain, of the size of the human body, and the height of three men. And 
Ray saw it in Sicily, frequent in the hedges, as big as our common Elder 
trees, woody, and long-lived.f 
The several varieties are natives of the East and West Indies, China, 
* Desfontaines, 
f Kay Hist 
