Opium is brought to this country in chests from Turkey and India.4 The Turkey opium, is raised in Anatolia, and exported chiefly from Smyrna. It is in flat pieces, covered with leaves, and the reddish capsules of some species of Rurnex, which is considered an indication of its goodness, as the inferior kinds of opium have none of these capsules adhering to them. Turkey opium generally contains about one fourth part of impurities. East Indian opium is raised chiefly in Malwa, in Bahar, and Benares: it is in round masses, covered with the petals of the poppy in successive layers, to the thickness nearly of one fourth of an inch. Mr. Kerr relates, that at Bahar it is frequently adulterated with cow-dung, the extract of the poppy procured by boiling, and various other substances. In Malwa5, it is mixed with oil of Sesamum, which is often one half of the mass: ashes, the dried leaves of the plant, and catechu, are also used. It is also adulterated with the aqueous extract of the capsules, the

1 Med. Observ. and Inquiries, v. 317.

2 According to Koempfer, the produce of the first incisions is of a pale yellow, and called gobaar in Persia; and is esteemed much superior in strength and goodness, in every respect, to the other collections.

3 When a current of wind or a cloudy day prevents the formation of dew, the incisions of the scarifications in the capsule are closed, and little juice flows. On the contrary, when the dew is heavy, and the flow of sap great, the opium is apt to fall off and drop from the incisions, and be wasted. In moderate dews the quantity of opium is greatest, namely, gr. j. of solid opium from each quadruple incision; it is exteriorly rose red, interiorly reddish white.

When the dew is considerable it also does harm by separating the soluble from the insoluble parts of the opium. The scrapers are in Malwa dipped in oil to prevent such an effect, but it injures the flavour of the opium. When water is used for this purpose, a dark reddish or blackish brown solution takes place, which evaporates into what is termed Paseiva in Bengal; it is either mixed with the mass of opium, or covers it as a paste.

When opium has been rapidly dried in the shade, it has a coppery or reddish-brown colour; is translucent in thin plates, with a gallstone yellow colour, and slightly granular texture. It has considerable adhesiveness; its odour is heavy, narcotic, but not unpleasant. In this condition it is termed standard or awcwal opium in Bengal. When it has been inspissated slowly in deep hollow vessels, it consists of irregular granules, or nodules, and is termed raw or kacna opium.

4 The Turkey opium is, nevertheless, the produce of Persia. The India opium was for a long time regarded as the best; but the Persian, or Turkey opium, as it is called, is now justly preferred.

5 In Malwa about 350,000 pounds, avoirdupois weight, of opium, are annually produced, 210,000 of which are for exportation___Malcolm's Mem, on Central extracts of Chelidonium glaucum, Lactuca virosa, and Gly-cyrrhiza glabra; and sometimes with gum arabic, tragacanth, aloes, and many other articles. Great pains, however, have lately been taken by Dr. Adams of Calcutta in improving the preparation of East Indian opium; and, except in point of strength, it is equal to the best Turkey opium. An inferior opium from Egypt is sometimes found in the market. Excellent opium has been lately produced in England, as I have already noticed.

India, vol. i. p. 8.

Opium is regarded as bad, when it is either very soft, greasy, light, friable, of an intensely black colour, or mixed with many impurities. A weak or empyreumatic odour, a slightly bitter or acrid, or a sweetish taste, or the power of marking a brown or black continuous streak, when drawn across paper, are also symptoms of inferior opium.

Qualities.-1. The dried capsule of the poppy is inodorous, and nearly insipid, a slight degree of bitterness only being perceptible when it is long chewed. Water by coction extracts its virtues; and when the decoction is evaporated, an extract is obtained, with properties similar to opium, but much less powerful.

2. Turkey opium has a peculiar, strong, heavy, narcotic odour, and a bitter taste, which is accompanied with a sensation of acrid heat, or biting on the tongue and lips, if it be well chewed: and if long kept in the mouth of a person unaccustomed to chew it, blistering is produced. Its colour, when good, is a reddish brown, or fawn colour; its texture compact and uniform. Its specific gravity is 1.336. When soft, it is tenacious; but when long exposed to the air, it becomes hard, breaks with an uniform, shining fracture, is pulverulent, and affords a yellowish brown powder; which is again aggregated by a heat so low as that of the hand. It is inflammable, and partially soluble in water, vinegar, lemon-juice, wine, alcohol, and ether. By long boiling in water under exposure to the air, its narcotic powers are impaired; yet r.othing rises with water, when it is distilled with that fluid.1 When carefully triturated with distilled water, it gives solutions of various specific gravity; thus ^viij. of one specimen rubbed down with two pints of water, yielded a solution of sp. gr. 1.039; of another specimen a solution of sp. gr. 1.038 was procured; whilst the same quantity of Egyptian opium afforded a solution of sp.gr. 1.052; yet this yielded less Morphia than either of the former specimens.

When treated with hot water, about five parts in twelve of the opium are dissolved and retained in solution, nearly six parts are simply suspended, and rather more than one part remains perfectly insoluble, of a viscid, plastic nature, somewhat resembling the gluten of wheat, but of a dark colour. Bucholz regarded this as caoutchouc; according to Proust it contains wax; and Gren supposed it to be analogous to gluten. By digesting alcohol on this substance, I found that it dissolved a small portion of it, acquired a reddish yellow colour, and became milky when added to water. Sulphuric ether digested on it, broke it down, and dissolved a portion of it, forming a yellowish tincture, which when evaporated on water left resin, a bitter extractive, and some acicular crystals of a-salt, which Derosne, erroneously, supposed to be the narcotic principle. The insoluble part, after the action of the ether, was subjected to a set of comparative experiments with the gluten of wheat, when it afforded similar results with the majority of the tests employed.

Hence this part of Turkey opium appears to be a modification of gluten, combined with resin, extractive, and peculiar salts.

1 Beaume, however, asserts that the odorous part of the opium is an oil.