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SELECTED ARTICLES. 
ART. XLV1. — OBSERVATIONS UPON THE OPIUMS FOUND 
IN COMMERCE— THE ATTENTION REQUIRED IN THEIR 
SELECTION — AS, ALSO, MORPHINE, AND OTHER PRO- 
DUCTS DERIVED FROM THEM. By M. Berthemot. 
(Translated by Augustine Duhamel.) 
Opium is a medicine so important to the healing art, that 
we cannot sufficiently call attention to the qualities it should 
present, and the frauds of which it is the object. The three 
principal kinds known in commerce, are, Egyptian, or opium 
from Alexandria, — opium from Constantinople, and Smyrna 
opium. As these three sorts have not the same intensity of 
action upon the animal economy, it is requisite to designate 
the rank they should occupy, their chemical differences, and 
the means of knowing them, so as to distinguish one from the 
other. We shall be more particular about the chemical, than 
we shall about the physical characters, which, though de- 
scribed in all chemical works, are, however, not to be depend- 
ed upon. The first, deserves our whole attention, being based 
upon the composition of the substance itself. Thus, for ex- 
ample, works treating of medicines, mention a clean and 
shiny fracture and a very brown color as characteristic of 
good opium. Too often opium presenting these characters is 
of bad quality. 
Egyptian Opium. — It is especially of late years that this 
opium has been diffused in commerce. It is almost always 
despatched to druggists, who accept it the more willingly, as 
it is always in small, very dry cakes, wrapped in broken 
leaves, has a deep brown color, a clean and shiny fracture, 
and with the exception of a less sensible narcotic odor than 
the two others, presents the aspect and external characters 
commonly considered as appertaining to good opium: but 
when you come to examine it chemically, it is found to con- 
tain less morphine than the two other kinds, and this morphine 
