ON SOME SPURIOUS SORTS OF OPIUxM. 291 
then added water sufficient to cover it. This apparatus 
was submitted to a constant heat of 50° C. as the maxi- 
mum, with a pressure of from 15 to 20 atmospheres, and in 
four or five hours the grain swelled so as to completely fill 
the apparatus. A great quantity of water being thus ab- 
sorbed, a paste could easily be formed by passing it between 
wooden rollers. Paste thus obtained may be used for 
making starch, care being taken to leave it to settle for two 
hours longer than the paste made with flour before soften- 
ing it; there is then less fear of fermentation, aud about 10 
per cent, more available paste will be obtained than by 
grinding. — Newtoii 's London Journal, from BuL Soc. Enc. 
ART. LXXVI. — ON SOME SPURIOUS SORTS OF OPIUM. 
By M. Batka. 
The high price of this drug, caused by its scarcity, is a 
great inducement to adulterate it, or for making substitutes 
for it ; and offers a large field for discoveries in pharma- 
cognosy. 
The opium, which I have now before me, consists of 
pieces like that from Smyrna, strewed over, as is usually 
the case, with the flowers of Rumex, but not wrapt in 
leaves. It is moreover as shiny as the Egyptian, only of a 
darker colour. Having been exposed for some time to the 
air, it is now almost without smell, very hard without being 
stony, does not become soft in the hand like genuine opium, 
feels like sand between the teeth, has a bitterish, but not 
bitter taste, glistens when broken, but is mixed with many 
light spots like Resina garannx. When tested for resin 
by friction it shows no electricity ; it carbonizes in the flame 
