52 
PRODUCTION  OF  OPIUM  IN  FRANCE. 
merely  phosphate  of  lime,  or  ammoniaco-magnesian  phosphate 
when  the  precipitate  has  been  effected  by  ammonia. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  at  the  present  time  opium  is  manufac- 
tured of  opium  residues,  to  which  various  extractive  substances 
and  some  narcotine  is  added.  Some  specimens  examined  by  the 
author,  which  presented  none  of  the  characters  of  good  opium  of 
commerce,  contained  7-6  per  cent,  of  alkaloids,  composed  of  2-1 
morphia  and  5-5  narcotine — Ohem.  News,  London,  Sept,  1, 
1860. 
PRODUCTION  OF  OPIUM  IN  FRANCE. 
As  the  cultivation  of  the  Opium  Poppy  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  opium,  and  for  its  seeds,  is  now  exciting  much  atten- 
tion in  France,  we  subjoin  a  summary,  from  the  Journal  de 
Chimie  Medieale,  of  the  more  important  conclusions  which  have 
been  arrived  at  by  our  neighbors  upon  this  subject.  Al- 
though the  amount  of  morphia  stated  to  have  been  obtained,  in 
some  cases,  from  the  opium,  is,  no  doubt,  over  estimated,  still 
the  experiments  which  have  been  for  the  last  few  years  carried 
on  in  France,  show  satisfactorily  that  opium  of  excellent  quality 
may  be  commonly  obtained  from  plants  there  cultivated  : — 
"  M.  Benard,  Professor  in  the  School  of  Medicine  at  Amiens, 
and  M.  Collas,  Pharmacien  of  Paris,  have  continued  the  re- 
searches they  commenced  in  1855,  on  the  production  of  indige- 
nous opium.  Their  experiments  were  made  in  the  department 
of  La  Somme,  where  the  cultivation  of  the  poppy  is  pursued 
over  a  large  area.  The  information  there  gained  may  serve  as 
a  guide  to  the  pharmacien  in  the  very  numerous  localities 
where  the  poppy  is  now  cultivated.  They  prove  beyond  doubt 
that  the  production  of  the  seed,  and  of  opium,  may  be  carried 
on  together  without  the  one  injuring  the  other. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  details  upon  the  cultivation 
of  the  poppy.  We  note  only,  that  it  is  found  most  advisable, 
both  to  facilitate  the  keeping  of  the  ground  in  order,  as  well  as 
for  the  collection  of  the  opium,  that  the  seed  should  be 
sown  in  rows,  at  intervals  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  centimetres 
(from  about  eight  inches  to  nearly  a  foot). 
"In  the  department  of  La  Somme  alone,  12,702  hectares 
