Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ~l 
Sept.,  1876.  j 
The  International  Exposition. 
while  another  is  ovate,  all  having  white  seeds.  The  incisions  appear  to  be  mostly 
made  with  a  single  knife  blade ;  they  are  horizontal  or  somewhat  spiral,  several  be- 
ing made  on  different  parts  of  the  fruit. 
A  variety  of  opium  which  has  become  of  considerable  importance  of  late  years 
is  that  produced  in  Persia,  which  country  is  not  directly  represented  at  this  Exposi- 
tion ;  but  various  samples  of  its  opium  are  shown  by  Rosengarten  &  Sons  and  Pow- 
ers &  Weightman.  The  former  firm  exhibit  Persian  opium  in  balls,  each  oiae  wrap- 
ped separately  in  thin  white  paper  5  the  latter  firm  show  a  large  quantity  of  it  in  the 
form  of  globular  cakes,  the  original  shape  being  considerably  modified  by  mutual' 
pressure,  all  packed  in  so-called  poppy  trash.  This  opium  is  said  to  be  principally 
derived  from  the  white  poppy  by  longitudinal  incisions ;  in  collecting  the  hardened 
juice,  the  scraper  is  occasionally  dipped  into  oil  to  prevent  the  opium  from  adher- 
ing; some  of  the  oil  becomes  mixed  with  the  juice,  and  the  opium  has,  therefore,,  a* 
greasy  appearance,  the  oil  often  exuding  in  drops  when  a  cake  is  cut.  Pessiarc. 
opium  is  also  formed  into  short  cones  and  into  cylindrical  sticks,,  which  are  wrapped: 
in  paper.  It  is  much  more  variable  in  morphia  strength  and  in  the  amount  of  mat- 
ter soluble  in  water,  than  Smyrna  opium,  and  this  is  due,  partly  at  least,  to  the  vari- 
ous admixtures,  purposely  made  for  the  purpose  of  moulding  it  into  a  peculiar 
shape,  or  of  obtaining  certain  preparations  in  which  forms  it  is  popularly  employed; 
in  that  country.  It  is  not  met  with  in  this  country  in  the  open  market,  its  importa- 
tion being  permitted  only  with  the  view  of  employing  it  in  the  manufacture  of 
morphia  and  the  other  alkaloids. 
East  India  opium  is  represented  only  by  two  specimens  from  the  India  museum,, 
consisting  of  a  broken  round  cake  of  Behar  opium,  and  of  a  ball  of  so-called  "pro- 
vision Opium,"  which  is  prepared  for  exportation  to  China  -y  the  two  represent  the- 
principal  kinds  manufactured  under  the  strict  supervision  of  the  Indian  government. 
The  white  poppy  is  cultivated  in  India,  the  capsules  exhibited  being  globular  ovate,, 
and  bearing  the  marks  of  vertical  incisions  with  a  three  or  four-bladed  knife.  The 
petals  are  carefully  collected  after  they  have  become  sufficiently  matured  to  be  read- 
ily removed  together  by  slight  pulling,  and  the  capsules  are  scarified  vertically  with, 
a  several-bladed  knife,  called  nushtur.    The  petals  are  carefully  preserved  and 
assorted,  and  afterwards  serve  for  the  formation  of  the  covering  of  provision  opium.* 
which  is  effected  by  forming  leaves  from  the  petals  in  a  shallow  earthen  dish,  suffi- 
ciently heated  to  render  them  glutinous,  and  afterwards  agglutinating  these  leaves^ 
so  as  to  form  a  shell  about  •§  inch  thick,  in  a  hemispherical  brass  mould,  by  means 
of  lenva/i,  which  is  a  kind  of  paste  made  by  diffusing  opium  in  the  washings  or  dhol 
(water  which  had  been  previously  used  for  cleaning  the  opium' vessels),  and,  m 
order  to  render  it  more  glutinous,  adding  a  certain  portion  of.pussenvah  or  passenva 
(drainings  from  the  recently  collected  poppy  juice).    When  the  opium  has  attained 
the  standard  quality  of  700,  i.  e.,  contains  70  per  cent,  of  dry  opium  and  30  per 
cent,  of  moisture,  1  seers  7*5  chittaks  (3  lbs.)  are  weighed  out,  carefully  placed  inta 
the  shell  and  formed  into  a  ball,  the  upper  half  of  which  is  covered  by  the  ends  of 
the  shell,  strengthened  with  some  leaves  and  agglutinated  by  lewah,  after  which  the 
cakes  are  rolled  in  poppytrash  (the  dried  plant  ground).    The  finished  ball  weighs, 
fresh,  a  little  over  2  seers  1  chitt.  (not  quite  4}  lbs.),  and  when  dry  2  seers,  or  about 
4  lbs.  avoirdupois.    The  drying  requires  much  care,  to  prevent  the  opium  from 
