138 
ON INDIA OPIUM. 
ART. XXIII— ON INDIA OPIUM. 
{Extracted from a Manual of Chemistry, by W. B. O'Shaugnessy. M. D., 
Professor of Chemistry and Medicine in Calcutta Medical College. ) 
"To this important subject I propose to devote more space 
than it generally claims in elementary treatises on chemistry. 
The place it holds as a source of enormous revenue, and an ar- 
ticle of the highest commercial interest, induces me to treat 
of it in this detail ; and I do so the more readily from the op- 
portunities I have enjoyed of becoming practically familiar 
with the subject, having held the appointment of assistant to 
the Opium Agency of Behar for a considerable period. De- 
tails relative to the cultivation and gathering of the drug do 
not of course fall within the object of this manual ; moreover, 
on this department of the subject, a paper published by Dr. 
Butter in the Journal of the Asiatic Society provides the most 
ample and interesting information. In this section, then, I 
propose to give, first, a sketch of the composition of opium ; 
secondly, of the manipulations to which it is subjected in the 
Government Factory at Behar ; thirdly, of the mode of assay 
by which its value is regulated ; fourthly, an account of the 
exact analysis of the drug, and the composition of the varieties 
supplied by the subordinate agencies of Behar; and lastly, I 
shall describe the adulterations to which the opium is so ex- 
tensively subjected, and the methods by which these adulte- 
rations may be recognised. The sketch thus given, will, I 
trust, prove of utility in this great revenue department, and 
contribute in some degree to the improvement of the drug as a 
medicinal agent." 
The following is the result of our author's examination of 
opium at the Behar factory. 
"The reception of opium at the Government factories com- 
mences with the hot season, and terminates late in the rains. 
The drug generally arrives in batches or chelhns of several 
jars, the joint production of one zillah, or its subordinate kotes 
