290 
THE COTTAGE GAKOENER. 
January 20. 
certain ; as a medicine, it is by no means equal to syrup, to 
wliich a certain quantity of solution of opium is added. 
The seeds of the poppy are simply emulsive, and contain 
none of the narcotic principle. They yield a considerable 
quantity of oil by expression. 
The milky juice of the poppy in its more perfect state, 
which is the case in warm climates only, is extracted by in ¬ 
cisions made in the capsules and evaporated; and in this 
state forms the opium of commerce. The mode of ob¬ 
taining it seems to have been nearly the same in the time of 
Dioscorides, as is at this day adopted. The plants, during 
tiieir growth, are carefully watered and manured, the 
W'ateriug being more profuse as the period of flowering 
approaches, and until the capsules are half grown, when it 
is discontinued, and the collection of the opium commences. 
At sunset, longitudinal incisions are made ui)on each half- 
ripe capsule, passing below upwards and not penetrating to 
the internal cavity. The night dews favour the exudation 
of the juice, which is collected in the .morning by women 
and children, who scrape it from off the wounds with a 
small iron scoop, and deposit the whole in an earthen ijot, 
where it is worked by wooden spatules in the sunshine, 
until it attains a cdnsiderable degree of thickness. It is 
then formed by the hand into cakes which are laid in 
earthen basins to be further dried, when it is covered 
over with poppy or tobacco leaves. Such is the mode 
followed in India, and according to Krempfer’s account, 
nearly the same is practised in I’ersia; and when the juice 
is drawn in a similar manner in this counti’y, and dried, 
it has all the characters of pure opium. 
The Tui-ks call opium afioni, and in the teriakihana or 
opium shops of Constantinople they take it in graduated 
doses fron ten grains to lot) grains in a day. It is mixed 
with rich syrup and the dried juices of fruit to render it 
more palatable ami less intoxicating, and is taken with a 
spoon or made up into lozenges, stamped with the words 
Mush Allah, literally meaning “The work of God." The 
'fartar couriers, who travel great distances, and with asto¬ 
nishing rapidity, take nothing else to support them during 
their journey. There is, however, some reason to suppose 
that the Mash Allah or Maslash of the Turks contains other 
narcotics, as those of Hemp, and Ldlium tremiileiitmn, as 
well as opium. 
The use of opium for the purpose of exhilarating the 
spirits has long been known in Turkey, Syria, and China, 
and of late years it has been unfortunately adopted by many, 
particularly females, in this country. Itussel says that in 
Syria, when combined with spices and other aromatics, he 
has known it taken to the amount of three drachms in 
twenty-four hours. Its habitual use cannot be too much 
reprobated. It impairs the digestive organs, consequently 
the vigour of the whole body, and destroys also gradually 
the mental energies. 'fhe effects of opium on those 
addicted to its use, says Russell, are at flrst obstinate cos- ' 
tiveness, succeeded by diarrlnea and flatulence, with the 
loss of appetite and a sottish appearance. The memories ' 
of those who take it soon fail, they become prematurely old, 
and then sink into the grave objects of scorn and pity. 
Mustapha Shatoor, an opium-eater in Smyrna, took daily 
three drachms of crude opium. The visible effects at the ^ 
time were the sparkling of his eyes, and great exhilaration j 
of spirits. He found the desire of increasing his dose i 
growing upon him. He seemed twenty years older than he ■ 
really was ; his complexion was very sallow, his logs small, 
his gums eaten away, and his teeth laid bare to the sockets. 
He could not rise without swallowing half a drachm of 
opium. 
Ever since the time of Paracelsus various preparations of 
opium have been commonly employed by medical prac 
titioners. That physician and alchemist gave it both in 
pills and in a liquid state. The prepartion of the latter he 
named landainim, but kept its mode of preparation among 
his other secrets. The compounding of laudanum was first 
made public by Dr. John Hartmann, in 1031. 
It must not be supposed that the active effects of oj)ium 
are produced by one of its constituents only. So far from 
this being the case, besides containing meconic acid, caout¬ 
chouc or Indian-rubber, bussarin, resin, and meconates of 
lime and magnesia, it combines within its mass six peculiar 
ingredients, namely—Narcotiana, Morphina, Meconin, Nar- 
oeina, Codeina, and Thebaina. 
Narcotiana has been given in doses of sixty grains, 
without injury. Morphina, combined with an acid, is very 
active, one-fourth of a grain producing all the sedative 
etfects of a large dose of opium. (If the medical properties 
of Meconin, Thebaina, and Narccina, wo know very little; 
hut Codeina, administered in doses of from four to six grains, 
produces excitement similar to drunkenness, but followed 
by depression and nausea. {Martyn. Smith. Witherimj. 
Bonn, Duncan. Thomson.) 
Since the establishment of The Cottage Gardener, 
every topic, we believe, connected with out-door matters, 
whether the useful or ornamental, has received attention, 
with the exception of landscape gardening, especially as 
applicable to moderate-sized grounds. We propose, 
therefore, to give a series of papers on this subject, and, 
to make them practically useful, it will be well to take 
the subject in its natural divisions, such as the approach 
walks, shrubberies, shrub masses, trees, water, rocks, 
&c.; and if we succeed in handling these in a proper 
way, we may serve to assist the owners of villas, &c., in 
determining the chief features of their grounds. To 
throw such materials into a whole, which we shall 
present in separate fragments, will be left to our great 
ju'ofessiouals, whose province we shall not dare to 
invade. 
1st. Approach. —We may here observe, that tlie villa 
approach is by no means confined to the same style as 
the country mansion, with its extensive park, or 
grounds; indeed, it cannot be, neither extent nor 
local circumstances would warrant such a procedure. 
The park approach will, for the most part, wend its way 
through existing groups of huge timber trees, whilst the 
villa approach must, in the main, be supported by 
groups of evergreens. There are several reasons why 
such should be the case, but the most cogent are the 
severe limitation of space, and the absolute necessity 
for a style of planting which will afford privacy and 
seclusion—such buildings being generally contiguous 
to towns or public roads. Having premised thus much, 
we will just glance at the park approach; this, how¬ 
ever, does not concern the majority of our readers, and 
we shall speedily dismiss it. 
The position of the entrance lodge, or gates, must be 
chiefly determined by convenience, such as the principal 
roads, railways, &c.; and it sometimes becomes neces¬ 
sary to have subordinate approaches as matters of 
convenience; these, however, are to be avoided, as 
tending to break in upon unity of expression and 
seclusion—two great principles never to bo forgotten- 
The style of the lodges, gates, and their appendages, are 
generally dictated by the style of the mansion. This 
rule is, nevertheless, sometimes departed from when 
the approach is very long, and the locality of very 
peculiar character. 
And now for the direction of the approach. It is a 
maxim with our best landscape gardeners to avoid all 
circuitous routes, unless fairly justified by the existence 
