THE WHITE POPPY.
1275
«ut Uj
1 oon s -V ecent even * s which have occurred in China will probably throw1, n era ble quantity of Indian opium into European commerce.fu.ru m P rna Opium (Opium Smyrnceum ).—This is the Turkey or Levant°f v ar j 1 c °mnierce. It occurs in irregular rounded or flattened masses3ri(l ° Us s izes, rarely exceeding two lbs. in weight, enveloped in leaves,Ua jjy surrounded with the reddish capsules of some species offko,, a ori( ‘nlalift, according to Koch, in T. W. C. Martius’s Phar-f v, p ' 322 ; but R. Patientia, according to Herat, Diet . Mat. Med.
Some of the flat cakes are without these capsules, and^:i Sses ' at resemble Constantinople opium. When first imported, thef Tl ‘ s °ftj and of a reddish-brown colour; but by keeping theyMta ® larcl and blackish. Its lustre is waxy; its odour is strong and un-
1 ^am * uiacKisii. .Lis iusi
* ts taste i s bitter, acrid, nauseous, and persistent. M. G uibourtiC| ' 0 Un| l le lnasses as being made up of agglutinated tears, and on this"'it], a s being the purest met with. It is, however, frequently met10 (j r r R el y adulterated. In one sample weighing 10 ounces I obtained,J f . s °f stones and gravel. Notwithstanding occasional fraudss kind, Smyrna opium forms the best commercial opium.
F ^ l VlTia
Vh^ian °^ ,um jields more morphia and meconic acid than either Constantinople or(• "i‘ ca °? ium (Berthemot, Journ. de Pharm. xxiv. 444). The quantity of morphia,’Ziit B 11 “e obtained from this kind of opium is perhaps, on the average, aboutCent / t_ t»z._ _: ....
Ces'of,w nt ' Fellctier (Journ. de Pharm. xxi. 572), in an operation on about twoPou 0( j 1 " 1S °I ,lum t procured a quantity of morphia equal to 7'08 per cent. Fromr tp, u calculates eight or nine per cent, could be obtained. On an average, 12“ dra,.”. "ylrochlorate of morphia may be procured from it. Dr. Christison obtained
4 ’ 4 !1|) XX| - 240), one.twelfth of codeia. Merck (Pharm. Centr. Platt, fur 18:16,
f * >tr cent m ' ne d five binds of Smyrna opium : from the worst he procured from 3 to“‘"■d o-o= °^ m ° r phia; from the best 13 to 13'5 per cent. In the latter variety hel ,er ce ut. of codeia.
8, Q
N ^f ta ntinople Opium {Opium Byzantinum seu Const antinopolitanum).Bis () ln debted to Professor Guibourt for an authentic sample of this.v Cfy y S . Cr B ) tion of it is as follows:—“ There are two sorts of it: one in°Pii lln ° Ua »nous irregular cakes, which are flattened like the SmyrnaqiBulai V lis ‘ s °f ver y good quality. The other is in small, flattened,.
Ca bcs, of a lenticular form, from two to two and a half inches in! . v 'de an B covered with a poppy leaf, the median nerves of whichS<l ; b u ! e Bisk into two parts. It lias an odour similar to the precedingblujjb ltlore feeble ; it blackens and dries in the air. It is more mu-c ^t! S „ Us than Smyrna opium.” To this account 1 may add, that the"I'iiiHj 0 u °ver covered with the Rumex capsules, as those of Smyrna‘‘I'd ai,rm‘ • iicu'tbemot describes two kinds of it: one soft, the other
P lll m
C a “d
I>,
di (j 9) le f r l| ibourt says that this kind of opium yields only half the morphia pro-d. T'kia tl, a , Smyrna opium. Berthemot also states that though it yields moreti, '“ot ao-' 1 1 .Egyptian opium, it gives less than the Smyrna kind. This, however,[i, r -‘ain aB Ce " Uh the experience of Mr. Duncan, of Edinburgh , who has never failedtjjVnt df | e . xlra<, rdinary quantity of hydrochlorate of morphia from it. From an ex-**l>le f f r : Ehristison’s, he calculates the quantity of hydrochlorate of morphia ob-11 >t at 14 per cent. {Journ. de Pharm. xxi. 547). Merck {Pharm. Centr.