146 
CULTURE OF THE POPPY IN INDIA. 
The oldest notices of the Poppy are found in the works of 
the early Greek Physicians, where not only the plant, but 
also its juice, is mentioned. Opium, however, does not ap- 
pear to have been so generally employed as in modern times, 
or the notices respecting it would have been more numerous 
and definite. It seems also probable that it first came into 
extensive use in Egypt. But, from having been so long and 
so generally cultivated in Europe, and the northern parts of 
Asia, the Poppy has spread, and become so completely natu- 
ralized in different countries, that it is now difficult to ascer- 
tain where it was originally indigenous. But, extensively as 
it is cultivated in India, it is remarkable that nowhere are 
even a few stray plants to be seen in a wild state; a sufficient 
indication that it is not a native of the country. This suppo- 
sition is still further confirmed, by no other species of Poppy 
being found in the plains, though the Author discovered one 
in the mountains, and Mr. Griffith has sent the seeds of a spe- 
cies of wild Poppy from Caubul. The names of the Drug 
seem also to assist us in tracing its origin to countries beyond 
India. Opium is, no doubt, derived from the Greek opos, 
(juice;) which may also be the origin of the Arabic afioon; 
and this latter, of the Hindee aphim. According to Professor 
Wilson, the only S nscrit term for Opium, is ahiphena; this 
occurs in the Medical Dictionary, called the " Raja Nighanta," 
and has every appearance of being borrowed and adopted from 
the Arabic term. By the Chinese, as we learn from the Me- 
morial of Heu-Naetse, Vice President of the Sacrificial Court, 
it is called Jifooyung in the Materia Medica of Le Shechin, 
of the Ming dynasty. — (Correspondence relating to China, 
1840, p. 156.) 
The Poppy, not being a native of tropical countries, is not 
cultivated in India during the seasons which are characteristic 
of those climates, that is, during the hot weather or rains; 
but in what are the winter months of European climates, 
namely, from October and November to March. The great 
heat is then sufficiently reduced to allow of the successful cul- 
tivation, not only of this, but also of other valuable plants re- 
