36 
Persian  Opium. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm» 
\       Jan.,  1885. 
PERSIAN  OPIUM.i 
By  Consul-general  Benjamin,  of  Teheran. 
Some  years  ago  the  production  of  opium  in  Persia  was  larger  than 
at  present.  The  unusual  proportion  of  morphia  which  Persian  opium 
contains  uiade  it  justly  preferable  to  that  produced  elsewhere,  and  large 
quantities  found  their  way  to  foreign  markets,  and  especially  to  China. 
Two  causes  have  latterly  tended  to  check  the  culture  and  export  of 
Persian  opium,  although  the  trade  in  the  article  is  still  important. 
One  of  these  causes  alone  might  not  have  led  to  such  a  result,  but  the 
two  coming  about  the. same  time  have  somewhat  discouraged  the  pro- 
duction of  Persian  opium.  These  causes  were,  the  increasing  adultera- 
tion of  the  article  and  the  fact  that  the  attention  given  to  its  culture 
materially  reduced  the  more  important  culture  of  wheat,  which  led  the 
Government  to  regard  the  opium  product  with  disfavor. 
Persian  opium  is  chiefly  grown  in  the  provinces  of  Kernianshah  and 
Ispahan.  The  latter  city  is  the  centre  of  the  opium  trade  of  Persia. 
The  opium  of  Ispahan  is  the  best;  the  highest  grade  has  been  found 
to  contain  15  to  16  per  cent,  of  morphia.  It  is  fair  to  state,  however, 
that  of  late  the  opiums  of  Kum,  Teheran  and  Yezd  have  been  grow- 
ing in  favor,  some  specialists  considering  the  quality  raised  at  Kum  as 
surpassing  every  other  grade  of  opium.  As  the  highest  quality  of 
Smyrna  opium  does  not  contain  a  mean  of  over  13*57  per  cent,  of 
morphia,  some  analyses  placing  it  even  lower,  while  the  Persian  drug 
yields  at  its  be  st  13  to  16  per  cent,  of  morphia,  hard,  it  certainly  rivals 
that  of  Smyrna,  and  is  beyond  question  far  superior  to  that  of  Egypt 
and  India. 
The  chief  objection  to  the  opium  of  Persia  lies  in  the  adulteration 
to  which  it  is  subjected,  the  chief  ingredient  in  this  deterioration  being 
grape-must,  and  sometimes  small  stones  concealed  in  the  parcels.  This 
difficulty  could  be  remedied  by  any  enterprising  house  which,  through 
honest,  capable  agents,  could  purchase  the  entire  product  of  Persia,  or 
of  any  one  of  the  opium  producing  districts,  and  give  direct  attention 
to  the  preparation  and  packing  of  the  drug.  A  pure  article  could  also 
be  obtained  by  a  firm  ready  to  form  a  contract  for  a  certain  quantity 
of  a  given  grade  of  the  drug  for  a  term  of  years,  the  continuance  of 
^  From  the  Independent  Journal. 
