L A C r 
-equal quantity of the fame water. The ten grains of the 
former which were left on the filter, being affufed with 
half an ounce of alcohol, and again filtered on the tenth 
day after, left on the filter feven grains. The quantity of 
refinous matter, then, was three grains. The eleven grains 
left from the common opium, by a fimilar treatment, were 
found alfo to contain three grains; the portion infoluble 
either in water or alcohol being eight grains. The refin 
being afterwards precipitated from the alcohol by the ad¬ 
dition of water, that of the lettuce appeared whiter than 
the other. By trials made in the Pennfylvania liofpital, 
and by experiments made by Dr. Coxe upon himfelf, the 
lettuce-opium was found to poffefs all the properties of 
the common. 
The milky juice from which the opium is prepared 
exifts in the ftalk and in the leaves of the plant. It is 
not indiferiminately depofited throughout, but is placed 
in appropriate veffels running longitudinally in the woody 
or fibrous part of the ftalk. The internal or medullary 
part of the plant is foft, and perfeftly bland to the tafte ; 
abounding in a tranfparent mucilaginous juice, which has 
not the fmalleft analogy to the milky one above-mentioned. 
The belt time for collefting the milky juice is when the 
plants are beginning to feed : before this it has not ac¬ 
quired its medical properties, and at a later period the 
produce is by no means fo confiderable. It is procured 
In the fame manner as from the poppy, i. e. by incifions; 
with this difference, that in the poppy they are longiru- 
dinal, but in the lettuce they muft be circular. A very 
moderate depth fufffees. It exudes freely in milky drops, 
which may be either immediately collected, or fullered to 
dry on the ftalk, and then feraped off and depofited in 
proper veffels. 
All the fpecies of lettuce contain opium in a greater or 
lefs proportion. The common lettuce, as has before been 
©bferved, produced that made life of by Dr. Coxe; but 
our fifthl'pecies, the Laftuca virofa, contains it molt abun¬ 
dantly. The prefent fpecies, however, fiiould perhaps be 
preferred ; as it will ferve the double purpofe of cultivat¬ 
ing for the table as well as for the druggift. The fale of 
the fupernumerary plants would probably more than repay 
the expence attending the cultivation of thofe intended for 
opium; indeed, a number of plants generally run to feed 
and are loft, at prefent, which might, and we hope in fu¬ 
ture will, be made to turn to good account. See the re¬ 
cent communications of Dr. Duncan to the Caledonian 
Horticultural Society, as printed in their Memoirs, or 
abridged in the Medical Journal for Aug. 1812. 
4. Laftuca fcariola, or prickly lettuce : leaves vertical, 
prickly on the keel. Root biennial, very full of milky 
juice, as is every part of the plant. Stem ereft, two or 
three feet high, round, prickly, leafy, branched at the top 
Into a fort of panicle, confiding of numerous pale-yellow 
flowers; the flowering-branches do not fpread out, but 
point upwards. Native of the fouthern parts of Europe: 
with us in the Ifle of Ely, on the borders of fields, as near 
Denny-abbey, &c. 
5. Laftuca virofa, or ftrong-feented lettuce : leaves ho¬ 
rizontal, prickly on the keel, and toothed : ftem from two 
to four feet high, prickly below. Root-leaves oblong- 
•wedge-fliaped, toothed at the edge : ftem-leaves fagittate, 
embracing, either entire or pinnatifid, lharply toothed : 
floral-leaves fagittate, half embracing, broau at the bafe, 
tapering to a fharp point, one at the bafe of each flower¬ 
ing branch : thefe are fpreading. Flowers numerous, 
yellow, feflile, or on fliort peduncles, with a fmall leaf at 
the bafe of each, and others ftill fmaller on them. Seeds 
furrowed and rough ; very like thofe of L. fativa in all 
refpecls, except that the edges and ftreaks near the top of 
the feed are rendered rough by very minute prickles. 
According to Gerard and Haller, this is a variety of the 
preceding, which, though bitter, acrid, and fetid in l'ome 
degree, is however much milder than this, and may eafily 
be diftiuguilhed from L. virofa by its paler colour, its lefs- 
fpreading branches, and its vertical leaves. Native of the 
VOL. XII. No, 812, 
’UCA. 73 
fouthern parts of Europe, by hedges, ditch-banks, and 
borders of fields. In England, at the World’s End near 
Stepney, and on the banks of the Thames between Black- 
walland Wool wich ; Burwell-pit and otherplaces in Carn- 
bridgefliire ; old walls in Bungay, Suffolk; Marfton-lane, 
Oxfordfhire ; in a ftone quarry at Thorp Arch in Yorkfhire. 
This fpecies abounds with a milky juice, of which the 
opiate power is of very confiderable ftrength, infomuch that 
it may occafionally be ufed in the manner of common opium. 
It may be collefted by fuffering the juice to drain from 
the wounded parts of the plant; and then by drying, in 
the manner of opium, it may be made into pills. Sir John 
Hill, in his Btitifh. Herbal, recommends this to be prac- 
til'ed in April and May. When dried, it diflblves freely 
in wine, and is laid to be an excellent anodyne; the dofe 
of which is a tea-fpoonful in a glafs of water, anfwering 
all the purpofes of laudanum. Dr. Collin relates twenty- 
four cafes of dropfy, out of which twenty-three were cured 
by taking the extraft in dofes from eighteen grains to 
three drams in twenty-four hours. It commonly proves 
laxative, promotes urine and gentle fvveats, and removes 
the thirft. It muft be prepared when the plant is in flower. 
6. Laftuca faligna, or leaft lettuce: leaves haftate-linear, 
feflile, prickly on the keel. Leaves fagittate at the bafe, 
the lower pinnatifid' i'egments few, alternate, ligulate, 
finely toothed, u ■ fharp point at the end, fomewhat 
hooked, the terminating one long; the upper entire, ligu¬ 
late; the midrib not always prickly. Linnaeus remarks, 
that the leaves are vertical, nearly as in L. fcariola. Na¬ 
tive of France, Saxony, the Palatinate, Silefia, Swifferland, 
Auftria, Carhiola, Piedmont, England, on the banks of 
ditches, and in paftures in a chalky foil. 
7. Laftuca tuberofa, or tuberous-rooted lettuce : leave; 
fpinulofe-toothed ; ftem almoft Ample 5 root tuberous, 
manifold. The whole plant, and even the calyx, abound¬ 
ing in a white milk, which turns to an orange-colour 
when expofed to the air. 
8. Laftuca Canadenfis, or Canadian lettuce: leaves lan- 
ceolate-enfiform, embracing, toothed, unarmed. This 
differs from L. fativa in having a higher ftem; the leaves 
four'times longer, and narrower; the flowers in a long 
terminating compound raceme, not a corymb. Native of 
Canada. It was cultivated by Mr. Miller in 1726, and 
probably earlier at Badminton. 
9. Laftuca Indica, or Indian lettuce: leaves lanceolate- 
eniiform, feflile, unequally toothed. This bears a great 
iimilitude to the preceding; it agrees with that in its lof¬ 
ty narrow' ftature, and the fhort ftipes to the feeds ; but 
the leaves are more toothed, and tne teeth are unequal ; 
the leaves l'carcely petioled, by no means embracing ; the 
panicle more branched, and floriferous. Obferved in the 
ifland of Java by Olbeck. Native of the other parts of 
the Eaft Indies. 
10. Laftuca perennis,' or perennial lettuce : leaves li¬ 
near, tooth-pinnate ; fegments toothed upwards. Root 
perennial, compofed of many long flefhy fibres, which 
abound with a milky juice, and fpread pretty far in the 
ground. Stems feveral, ftrong, dividing towards the top 
into feveral branches. Root-leaves nine or ten inches 
long, having fix or feven deep jags almoff to the midrib, 
toothed on their upper fide, the teeth acuminate; ftem- 
leaves ftiorter, with fewer jags ; thofe immediately below 
the flower-(talks are almoft entire. Flowers terminating, 
on {lender branching peduncles, fuftaining from two to 
four flowers; corollas deep purple or blue. Native of 
Germany, Italy, and France. Cultivated in 1633. 
11. Laftuca Auguftana, or Aofta lettuce : leaves entire, 
toothed, fharply hooked, the midrib fmooth. Root an¬ 
nual, fufiform. Stem the height of a man, fmooth, up¬ 
right, very ilightly ftriated, branched about the middle ; 
branches upright, lubdivided. The whole plant is very 
fmooth and milky, without any virofe fmell. Found in 
Tandy places by the torrent that defeends from the Great 
St. Bernard, and in the valley of Aofta between St. Pierre 
and VillanovJW 
U 
Monf. 
