OCR Text |
Show 522 WHITE POPPY. made with the English opium, in a few cases under my care, [Then followthe cases. ] If a larger quantity of the drug, whose virtues were to be de. termined by experience, had been sent, more trials would have been made; but I have no doubt that the same effects, and by at least as small a dose, would have been producedby it as by the best foreign opium. I have the honourto be, gentlemen, Your most obedient servant, G. Pearson, To the Committee of the Society forthe Encouragement ofArts, &&c. Gentlemen, agreeably to your request, we have tried the opium you were so good as to send to the hospital, and am sorry, in the short time in which you desired an answer, that we have hadonly one case to give it a fair trial, namely, Eliza- beth Spraughton, who has beenseveral weeks under the care of Dr. Vaughan with a diseasedstate of stomach, and in whom we suspect a scirrhus of that viscus. She has been in the habit of taking one grain of opium every four or six hours, according to the violence of pain which she suffered. Onthe sixth of Mayshe began with your English opium, made into pills of one grain each, and found as much relief as she used to do fromthe foreign opium. She has continued takin g them eversince, and with the same effect.—I remain, gentl emen, Your obedient humble servant, G. E. Lawrence, Apothecary. The Committee of Chemistry, to whos e examination the English opium, prepared by Mr. Jones, was referred bythe Society, ordered samples of the opiu mto be le ft with several eminent chemists for their analysis and judgement ; in conseque nce of whic h, the following preparations were laid before the committee bythose gentlemen, viz. Extract of English opium, in proof spirit. Hardextract of English opi um. Watery extract of English Opiumof the late dispensa tory. Tincture of English opium oft he present pharmacopeeia. Tincture of English opiumo fthe late dispensatory. English opium powdered. Similar preparations of fine fore ign opium were produced in comparison, From the general result of these experiments it appears, that WHITE POPPY: 523 Mr. Jones’s English opium is equal in quality to fine foreign opium; and thecertainty of its growth in this country, prepara- tion, and efficacy, fairly established. Two kinds of opium are found in commerce, distinguished by the names of Turkey and Kast India opium. Turkey opium is a solid compact substance, possessing a cons derable degree of tenacity ; when broken, having a shining fracture and uniform appearance; of a dark brown colour; when moistened, marking on paperalight brown interrupted streak, and becoming yellow when reduced to powder; scarcely colours ing the saliva when chewed, exciting at first a nauseous bitter taste, which soon becomes acrid, with some degree of warmth ; and having a peculiar heavy disagreeable smell. ‘The best kind is in flat pieces, and besides the large. leaves in whichit is enves loped, is covered with the reddish capsules of a species of rumex, probably used in packing it. The round masses, which have noue of these capsules adhering to them, are evidentlyinferior in quality. Opium is bad if it be soft, or friable, mixed with any impurities, have an intensely dark or blackish colour, a weak or empyreumatic smell, a sweetish taste, or draw upon paper a brown continued streak. East Indian opium has muchless consistence, being sometimes not much thicker than tar, and always ductile. Its colouris much darker ; its taste more nauseous, andless bitter; andits smell rather empyreumatic. It is considerably cheaper than Turkish opium, and is supposed of only half the strength. Oneeighth of the. weight of the cakes is allowed for the enormous quantity of leaves with which they are enveloped. In the East Indies, when opiumis not good enough to bring acertain price, it is destroyed under the inspection of officers. Opium is vot fusible, but is softened even by the heat of the fingers. It is highly inflammable. It is partially soluble, both in alcohol and in water. Neumann got from 1920 parts of opium, 1520 alcoholic, and afterwards 80 watery extract, 320 remaining undissolved ; and inversely 1280 watery, and 200 al. coholic extract, the residuum being 440. The solutions of opium are transparent, and havea brown or vinous colour. cohol, The watery solution is not decomposed byal- A small quantity of matter, which, as far as my experiments go, is neither fusible nor remarkably inflammable, is se~ |