AFebJruar'yPf9oom'}    Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.         8 1 
closely  approximates  that  of  di-brom-methoxy-dioxy-cinnamic 
acid.  This  is  of  interest,  since  the  lactone  of  the  latter  is  chrysa- 
tropic  acid,  another  constituent  of  pichi. 
From  analyses  of  its  lead  and  copper  salts  the  constitution  of  the 
tannoid  is  supposed  to  be  C16H20O10H2O.  Direct  estimation,  as  usual 
with  non-crystalline  tannoids,  does  not  yield  definite  results. 
H.  V.  A. 
BULGARIAN  OPIUM. 
S.  Hartwich  (Schweiz.  Wochenschr.f.  Chem.  et  Pharm.,  1899,  121) 
gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  culture  of  opium  in  the  Balkan 
region,  the  data  being  mostly  secured'  from  a  former  student  now 
engaged  in  the  enterprise.  While  European  Turkey  has  long  pro- 
duced opium,  the  culture  in  Bulgaria  dates  from  1896,  when  the 
wheat  culture  began  declining. 
The  fields,  preferably  in  level  meadows,  are  plowed  two  or  three 
times,  and  are  sown  between  February  20th  and  March  15th,  al- 
though some  sow  in  September,  risking  frost,  however,  in  order  to 
secure  hardier  plants.  When  the  plants  are  about  8  centimetres 
(or  finches)  high,  the  field  is  hoed,  thereby  removing  many  of  the 
young  plants,  leaving  only  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  remaining  to 
the  square  metre.  Later  the  field  is  hoed  again  to  remove  weeds. 
The  plants  flower  in  May,  and  shortly  after  the  flowers  fade  and  the 
ovary  enlarges  the  collection  of  the  opium  begins,  the  incisions 
being  made  in  the  afternoon  and  the  dried  juice  scraped  from  cap- 
sule in  the  morning,  just  as  in  Turkey.  Care  is  taken  to  avoid  cut- 
ting to  the  interior  of  the  capsule,  in  order  that  the  ovary  remain 
sufficiently  intact  to  produce  the  seed. 
The  writer  gives  the  planter's  actual  figures  concerning  a  crop. 
This  shows  that  a  field  of  20  dekars  (about  5  acres)  yielded 
25  kilos  (55  av.  pounds)  opium  and  1,300  kilos  (2,860  av.  pounds) 
seeds,  a  crop  bringing  $304.  The  outlay  for  this  crop,  even  in- 
cluding items  of  rent,  taxes  and  interest,  was  $107.20. 
Interesting  are  the  figures  relating  to  the  cost  of  labor ;  for  in- 
stance, the  collection  of  the  2,860  pounds  of  seed  cost  5.20,  while 
six  hoeings  of  the  five-acre  field  cost  $1.60. 
Examination  of  nine  samples  of  Bulgarian  opium  showed  their 
morphine  strength,  estimated  for  dry  opium,  ranged  from  6-6  per 
cent,  to  20-75  per  cent.  H.  V.  A. 
