168 
LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
wounded before they are mature, and while 
growing, yield a milky juice; this, being col¬ 
lected and dried, becomes opium, of which lau¬ 
danum is made. According to the quantity 
taken, laudanum operates either as a powerful 
remedy or a destructive poison. 
.From a Poppy I have taken 
Mortal’s balm and mortal’s bane ; 
Juice that, creeping through the heart, 
Deadens every sense of smart; 
Doomed to heal or doomed to kill. 
Fraught with good or fraught with ill. 
Mrs. Robinson. 
The Poppy has of late years been extensively 
cultivated in this country for the making of 
opium, which is found to be equal in all its 
qualities to that formerly imported from Tur¬ 
key. The quantity annually consumed in Eng¬ 
land is about fifty thousand pounds. In Ger¬ 
many an oil is extracted from the seed of the 
Poppy, that is not inferior to the finest Italian 
oils for culinary purposes, if used within the 
year. 
Many species of Poppies are cultivated in the 
garden. The double ones are flowers of sur¬ 
passing beauty, whether we consider their deli- 
