THE GARDEN LETTUCE.

365

e ar ij n ’ observes Dr. Paris ( Pharmacol. vol. i. p. 13, 6th ed.) in “ thebmes > among the fables of antiquity, we read that, after thegrjgf °* Adonis, Venus threw herself on a bed of lettuces, to lull herj, ’ an< l repress her desires.”

c vlinJ A?SY ‘ Gf.n. Char. —Heads many- or few-flowered. InvolucreH e , nca l, calyculate-imbricate, in two to four rows; outer rows short.>0in t- aC ^ e na bed. Achene plane, obcompressed, wingless, abruptly ter-^ ll "g in a filiform beak (D. C.)

_ -yiiAR.—Leaves not concave, erect, oblong, narrowed at the base,

^ooth

at the keel. Stem elongated, leafy (D. C.)

Ilua b Stem erect, simple below, branched above, one or two feetWrjJ.f® 00 ^. Leaves rounded or ovate, semi-amplexicaul, frequentlyI'lo,., e “’ usually pale-green ; varying much in the different varieties.wer s yellow.

Cu biv a ? J j U J^ 011 (Encycl. of Garden, p. 856) enumerates no less than fourteen varieties^Pitatn? gardeners for the table. Seven of these are Cabbage Lettuces (Lactuca)> and the others are Cos Lettuces ( Lactuca romana).

si Ve i^- Native country unknown: perhaps the East Indies. Exten-cultivated in Europe .

p] ant ^-Ration of Lactucarium.—B efore the flower-stem shoots up, thea bounds with a cooling, bland, pellucid juice ; afterwards it con-l)°ft- an ^tensely bitter, milky juice, which resides in the root, cortical11 the stem and of the branches, and in the involucrum. Whenc°)] e are made in the flowering-stem this milky juice exudes. Whene a and dried it constitutes lactucarium or lettuce opium. It is (orfi^P^Parcd on a large scale by Mr. Young of Edinburgh (Duncan,p. Lispens. p. 384, 11th ed.; Mem. of the Caled. Hortic. Soc. vol. i.

c °mm 0l>ERTlEs -— Lettuce opium (Thridace seu Lactucarium), as found ino pi Crce , occurs in roundish hard masses, of a brown colour, with ane stnell and a bitter taste.

Th e t

^ fat ion ern V ac ^ MCanMW * las keen applied indiscriminately to various and different pre-lf r esse(j * ?* l ^e lettuce; viz. to the substance above described, to the inspissated ex-u n Canl JU ' c e, and to extracts (watery and alcoholic) obtained from the lettuce (see'd «hi ^yLdinb. Disp.) But the only preparation I am practically acquainted with,ch I have found in commerce, is the one described in the text.

C

4. j^Rosition.—L actucarium has been analyzed by Klink (Pfaff, Syst.by jf - Med. vi. 504), by Schrader (Gmelin, Handb. d. Chem. ii. 1286),Ce^fuer (Dulk, Preuss. Pharm. ubers. i. 625), by Peretti ( Pharm.a 'Blatt.fUr 1831, S. 467), and by Buchner (Ibid, f Hr 1833, S. 27).

“rid

W;

ater,

Klink’s Analysis.

tractive . 55-0

.. 100

. 15-6

Od 0

La «ucarium.1050

Buchner's Analysis.

Odorous matter .undetermined

Lactucin, with colouring matter 18‘6

Gummy extractive . 14 666

Soft resin, with waxy matter.... 12467

Waxy matter (myricin) .. 35" 100

Gluten or albumen . 15H00

Air-dried Lactucarium ...

E9-933

j! r ?l>ab]y s j m atter .—The nature of this substance has not been determined: it is11 ted to that of the odorous principle of opium. When lactucarium is sub-

'stillation with water, the odorous principle passes over with the latter.