are, I believe, the most ancient Greek authorities who speak of this substance; and it is impossible, I think, to arrive at any accurate conclusion from their remarks whether opium had, or had not, been known long before their time, though Alston infers, from the little use made of it by Hippocrates, as well as from Diagoras condemning its use in diseases of the eyes, that its virtues were not known long before him. Dioscorides and Pliny mention that the expressed juice of the heads and leaves is termed meconium, and that it is much weaker than opium. Theodore Zwinger, Sprengel, and others have supposed that the nepenthes of Homer was opium. It would appear that opium was not much employed until the time of the Arabs, except in the form of the confections known as Theriaca, Mithridatica, &c. The word opium is derived from otos, the juice.”[71]
[71] Pereira.
Var.—1. Egyptian; in roundish flattened lumps; inferior to Turkish opium.—2. English; often equal to the best Smyrna.—3. French; resembles the last.—4. German; similar to English opium,—5. Indian;—a. Benares; in large balls;—b. Malwa; in roundish flattened cakes, of 9 or 10 oz. in weight each;—c. Patna, in balls or square cakes; inferior to Turkey opium.—6. Levant; same as Smyrna opium.—7. Persian; in rolls or sticks, 6 × 1⁄2 inch; inferior; resembles hepatic aloes in appearance.—8. Smyrna; in irregular, rounded, flattened pieces, varying in weight from 2 or 3 lbs. to only as many oz. It forms the best variety of Turkey opium, and is particularly rich in morphia. It is the only one adapted for the manufacture of the salts of morphia, as it contains on the average from 7 to 9% of that alkaloid, and usually yields about 12 to 12·5% of hydrochlorate of morphia, which is more than can be obtained from any other variety of opium.[72]—9. Turkey; of which two varieties are known in commerce, viz. Constantinople opium and Levant or Smyrna opium, noticed above. Constantinople opium is generally in small, flattened, roundish cakes, 2 to 21⁄2 inches in diameter, and covered with poppy leaves. It is more mucilaginous and less esteemed than Smyrna opium, from which it may be distinguished by the last being always covered with the reddish capsules of a species of Rumex.
[72] Of five kinds of Smyrna opium examined by Merk, the worst were found to yield 3 to 4 per cent. of morphia, and the best from 13 to 13·5 per cent.
The following account of the method of opium collection, adopted in Asia Minor, is extracted from a paper in the ‘Pharmaceutical Journal,’ contributed by Messrs Maltass and Wilkin.[73] About the end of May the plants arrive at maturity, and the flowers expand. A few days after the petals have fallen the capsule is ready for incision.
[73] First series, 14th volume.
This operation is performed in the afternoon of the day and in the following manner:—A transverse incision is made with a knife in the lower part of the capsule, the incision being carried round until it arrives nearly at the part where it commenced; sometimes it is continued spirally to half way down its starting point. The greatest nicety is required to avoid cutting too deep, and penetrating the interior coating of the capsule, as this would cause the exuding milky juice to flow into the inside.
The following morning those engaged in collecting the opium lay a large poppy leaf on the palm of the left hand, and having a knife in the right hand, they scrape the opium which has exuded from the incision in each capsule, and then transfer it from the knife to the leaf, until a mass of sufficient size has been formed, when a second poppy leaf is placed over the top of the mass. If the dew has been heavy during the night the yield is greater, but the opium is dark in colour; if, on the contrary, there has been no dew, the yield is less, but the opium is of a lighter colour. A high wind is prejudicial, as the dust raised from the pulverised soil adheres to the exudation, and cannot be separated. The poppy capsules are cut but once, but as each plant will from one stem produce several branches, and each branch produce a flower, it is usual to pass over the field a second or a third time, to cut such capsules as were not ready at the first cutting. After the opium is collected it is dried in the shade.
The proceeds arising from the sale of the opium crop in British India form a considerable item in the revenues of our Eastern Empire; hence the poppy as the source of this valuable export, almost the whole of which goes to China, is very extensively cultivated in India.
In the year ending March 31st, 1872, 93,364 chests, valued at £13,365,228, were exported from British India. Of this quantity 49,455 chests were from Bengal, and Bombay 43,909. They were distributed thus:—