2. " Osast-tatiss alit °pima. tif this there are two sorts : one in large *skew, which are flattened, like the Smyrna opium, and of very good quality ; the other is in small flattened regular cakes, of a kntiuular form. iron) 2 to 24 inch se in diameter, and covered with n poppy.leal, the midrib of which divides the disk into two parts. It Las an odour similar to the preceding kind, hut more feeble ; at first It iv reddish both without and within, hence cellied by the French opium mays; it however blackens and dries in the air, but never becomes so hard es Smyrna or Egyptian opium. than which it is more mum lagineus." Th. Martins L. of opinion that it is a manufactured article, prepared at Coturtantinople, out of Smyrna opium, by the addition of gum. It is • common article of German, hut rarely of En.tliah, 0oe.1Merte. It is never covered with the Rumex capsides as the Smyrna opium.
3. &optj.ts or Ale.randricn opium " occurs in round flattened cakes of about three Inches In diameter, covered externally with the vestiges of the same leaf, which are in too mutilated a state to be determined. It Is diatinguialied from the preceding varieties by its reddish colour, analogous to sscoot:int, or hepatio aloes, which does not by time or exposure to the air become darker: the odour is fainter and somewhat Though the cake are all of the sorts much the hardest, so that a Now with a hammer will cause one to split into fragments, yet by exposure to the air it becomes soft.
4. " Tobizond or Persian opium occurs in the form of cylindrical sticks, which by pressure hive become somewhat angular. Their length is about *ix inches ; their diameter about six inches. Each one is enveloped in a smooth paper, and tied with cotton. The colour of opium is similar to that of soccotrine aloes. It possesses stronger odour than the Egyptian kind, but fainter than that of Smyrna, united with a musty ono. The taste is intensely bitter." 5. builaa opium, of which there are several varieties, as already described. [Ortcx Tnane.] 6. English opiate " is in flat cakes or balls enveloped in leaves. It resembles the Egyptian more than any other kind ; its colour is that of hepatic aloes, with a moderately strong opiate odour." Before offering a summary of the points of difference, in chemical composition and other respects, of these various sorts, it is necessary to enumerate the general constituents of opium :-1, morphia ; 2, codeia ; 3, parantorphia or thebaine ; 4, pseudomerphia ; 5, narcotina or ()plenum ; 6, narceino; 7, meconine ; 8, meconic acid; 9, an oily acid ; 10, gum ; 11, resin; 12, extractive . • 13, n fixed oil ; 14, et-tout chouc • 15, a volatile odorous principle ; 16, ligneous matter with inor ganic stIte, such as sulphate of lime and potass, and in some kinds opiania, papaverine, and porphyroxine, the latter principle only in Bengal and Smyrna opium (according to Merck, its discoverer,' Pharm. Central Blatt,' June, 1S37). There are also various accidental but more Intentional impurities, such as sand, of which even the best Smyrna opium contains a large portion, 10 ounces of opium frequently containing 10 drachms of atones and gravel. In the interior of the cake. leaden bullets are often discovered. The cakes should always bo cut through the centre in order to detect this fraud.
The relative proportion of these numerous ingredients varies very much, not only in the aamplee from different countries, but in those of the same country. Thus, Smyrna opium, though the average quantity
of morphia which it. yields may be stated to bo 10 per cent., in five specimens examined by Mulder gave 10 per cent. in the best and little more than ,2 In the worst.
Professor Guibourt states Constantinople opium to yield only one half the quantity of morphia procurable from Smyrna opium ; while 31r. Duncan of Edinburgh has obtained even 14 per cent. Guibourt also affirms that Egyptian opium yields only 5-7 the of the morphia obtainable from Smyrna opium ; while Dr. Christison procured 106 per cent. from it. Of the Indian kinds, Dr. Smyttan procured only 3 or 5 per cent. of morphia, while Dr. Christison obtained 96 from the Melee opium; and from Bengal opium Dr. Smyttan obtained 2 or 36 per cent., while Mr. Macfarlane of Edinburgh procured 7 per cent.
From English opium 5 per cent. may be obtained. From German opium Blitz procured 166 to 20 per cent. From some French opium Petit obtained 16 to 18 per cent, and Caventou the large amount of 22 to 28 per cent.
The extreme discrepancy of these results may be explained not merely by the varying seasons when the specimens were produced, anti the different degrees of skill and dexterity in the chemists, but by the fact that the morphia is more easily and effectually separated when the opium is fresh : hence the large proportion found in European opium, which was not only cultivated with great care, but was analysed soon after it had been collected. It is not at all improbable that the morphia under goes a change by age, and entirely evaporates from old specimens, in the same way as conia disappears from hemlock. [CoNtnat, in NAT. limy. Div.) It is always proper to institute an examination into each new purchase of opium, to ascertain the presence and amount of morphia. Some specimens of opium, which to the eye present all the physical characters of the best Smyrna opium, even some of those deemed hitherto inimi table, such as the transparent agglutinated tears seen on cutting it across, are found on analysis devoid of the smallest trace of tnorphia. (' Journal de Pharmacie,' tom. xxiv., pp. 325, 446.) The following test is proposed in the New Edinburgh Pharma copoeia,' and though not absolutely certain, is sufficiently so for common use :—" A solution from 100 grains, mecerated 21 hours in two fluid ounces of water, filtered and strongly squeezed in a cloth, if precipitated by a cold solution of half an ounce of carbonate of soda in two waters, and heated till the precipitate shrinks and fuses, will yield a solid mass on cooling, which weighs, when dry, at least 11 grains; and if pulverised, dissolves entirely in solution of oxalic acid." More morphia would appear to be present in the specimens of European opium, which are obtained from the variety of poppy with violet-coloured petals, than in the Turkey opium ; while that from the European white variety contains more narcotine than the Turkey. In Smyrna opium the morphia seems to be united with meconic Reid, and to be dot only more abundant, but more easily separated, and more completely purified from the narcotine and colouring matter, than that of Egypt, in which the morphia is united to sulphuric acid.