EXAMINATION  OF  A  SPURIOUS  ARTICLE  OF  OPIUM.  375 
per  centage  of  good  opium,  and  yet  had  been  able  to  preserve 
most  of  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  genuine  drug.  One 
hundred  grains  of  the  spurious  article,  dried  at  a  temperature 
of  212°  F.,  lost  25  grains  in  weight.  The  remaining  75  grains 
— macerated  for  a  few  hours  in  tepid  alcohol,  carefully  tritura- 
ted, and  exhausted,  and  filtered — left  on  the  filter  58  grains  of 
insoluble  matter.  This  was  represented  principally  by  filaments 
of  vegetable  structure,  which,  under  the  microscope,  proved  to 
be  the  outer  skin  or  epicarp  of  the  poppy  capsule,  with  occa- 
sional traces  of  what  appeared  to  be  the  fragments  of  the  bruised 
stem  of  the  plant.  The  insoluble  portion  consisted  of  40  grains 
of  such  vegetable  fibre,  with  18  grains  of  gum,  caoutchouc,  &c; 
while  1.10  grs.  of  morphia  and  15.90  grs.  of  resin,  meconic 
acid,  and  other  matters  soluble  in  alcohol,  made  up  the  soluble 
part.  With  these  data,  we  can  represent  the  composition  of  the 
mass  thus  : — 
Water,  25. 
Vegetable  fibre,  principally  poppy  capsule,     .  40. 
Gum,  caoutchouc,  mucus,  &c,  .        .  18. 
Resin,  meconic  acid,  &c,     ....  15.90 
Morphia,  1.10 
100.00 
The  above  expression,  though  it  cannot  be  offered  as  the  re- 
sult of  a  complete  analysis,  but  merely  as  morphiometrical,  is 
abundantly  sufficient  to  demonstrate  the  total  unfitness  of  the 
mass  for  medical  or  manufacturing  purposes. 
The  invoice  reached  this  port  from  one  of  the  West  India 
Islands ;  and  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  it  may  have  been  of- 
fered for  entry  at  some  other  of  our  seaports,  and,  after  having 
been  condemned,  the  consignee  has  preferred  shipping  it  to  the 
West  Indies  rather  than  to  leave  it  in  the  custom  house  to  be 
destroyed,  if  found  there  at  the  expiration  of  six  months.  In 
the  present  instance,  the  consignee  has  made  the  same  choice, 
and  the  package  has  been  despatched  to  the  British  Provinces. 
As  the  price  of  opium  ranges  quite  high  at  this  time,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  another  attempt  will  be  made  to  introduce  it 
into  the  country.  And  in  case  of  its  arrival  at  any  port  where 
no  special  examiner  of  drugs  is  stationed,  it  would  be  well  if 
