The lacticiferous or milk bearing plants are nearly all of them connected by very important ties with man and civilization. The phenomena themselves are well worthy of study, and their association with humanity replete with interest. These plants are by no means restricted to one genus or family, nor are their properties of the same character. The one circumstance of their secreting a white juice resembling milk in appearance is almost all they have in common. In the poppy it becomes opium, in the lettuce lactucarium. It constitutes refreshing beverages, obtained in large quantities, in the sunny climes of Asia, from the cow-tree of South America, the kiriaghuma and hya-hya of British Guiana, the Euphorbia balsamifera of the Canary Islands, the juice of which as a sweet milk, or evaporated to a jelly, is taken as a great delicacy, and the Banyan tree, all of which, to a certain extent, supply the place of the cow, in places and conditions wherein cows are not to be found. Similar juices are collected in the form of India rubber or caoutchouc, a substance so invaluable in the arts of life. They exude from figs, euphorbiæ, and cacti, in the East Indies, South America, and Africa, from all of which places a large quantity of the consolidated juice is exported to the markets of Europe and North America. The greater quantity of these lactescent juices are elaborated in the Tropics. Gutta percha and allied substances are similarly produced, and indeed, numerous plants are possessed of this kind of secretion, which have not yet been made available for economical purposes, but which may become equally well known, and useful, to succeeding generations. Narcotic properties do not appear to be so common in these juices as the irritant or acrid, which abound in some euphorbiaceous plants, and the inert, and when coagulated and dry, elastic properties found in the siphonias, figs, and sapotaceous plants.
In St. Domingo, a species of Muracuja is believed to possess qualities very similar to opium, from which, and from an allied plant, Dr. Hamilton believes, that the concentrated sap, collected at a proper time, strained, evaporated, and properly prepared, would prove an excellent substitute for the expensive opium, at a cheaper rate. The species indigenous to Jamaica, is known as bull-hoof or Dutchman’s laudanum. At a time when opium was scarce, from some accidental cause, in the island of Jamaica, a Dutch surgeon found in this plant a successful substitute. The plant is common in Jamaica and some other of the West Indian islands. It is an elegant climber, bearing bright scarlet blossoms, somewhat resembling a passion flower. Browne says, that the flowers are principally employed, and when infused, or mixed in a state of powder with wine or spirits, are regarded as a safe and effectual narcotic.
Dr. Landerer states that the Syrian rue is a highly esteemed plant in Greece. This plant appears to have been known to the ancients, and mentioned by Dioscorides. Its properties are narcotic, resembling those of the Indian hemp. The Turks macerate the seeds in scherbet or boosa, administering the infusion internally. It also serves in the preparation of a yellow dye. The seeds are sometimes used by the Turks as a spice, and the same people also resort to them to produce a species of intoxication. The Emperor Solyman, it is stated kept himself in a state of intoxication by their use. The peculiar phenomena of this intoxication has not, that we are aware, been described, but we are informed that the property of producing it exists in the husks of the seeds, from which a chemical principle of a narcotic nature has been obtained.
There is another plant, a native of Arabia, and of the nightshade family, so prolific in narcotics, the seeds of which are used by some of the Asiatics to produce those mental reveries and excitement so much coveted. These seeds, the produce of a plant known to botanists under the name of Scopolia mutica, are also roasted and infused to form a sort of drink, in which the Arabs and some others indulge.
The seeds of a species of Sterculia are said to be used by the natives of Silhet as a substitute for opium. The Cola nuts, so highly esteemed by the negroes of Guinea, are the produce of a Sterculia. The natives attribute very extraordinary properties to these seeds, somewhat analogous to those claimed by the Peruvians for the leaf of the coca, stating, that if chewed, they satisfy hunger, and prevent the natural craving for food, that for this purpose they carry some with them when undertaking a long journey. They are also affirmed to improve the flavour of anything that may be subsequently eaten, if a portion of one of them is taken before meals. Formerly they were even more esteemed than at the present day. In those times, fifty of them were sufficient to purchase a wife. These seeds are flat, and of a brownish colour and bitter taste. Their tonic properties have been supposed equal to those of the famed Cedron seeds of Guiana and the more famous Cinchona bark of the Andes. Probably further and more elaborate investigation will prove that these wonderful seeds possess slightly beneficial properties as a tonic, it may be even inferior to those of the roots of Gentian, or other parts of some of our indigenous plants.
In the Straits, the leaves of the “Beah” tree are used by the opium-smokers as a substitute for opium, when that drug is not procurable. These serrated leaves, the produce of we know not precisely what tree, except under the above native name, are occasionally sold in the bazaars or markets at a quarter of a rupee per catty, or at the rate, Anglicised, of fourpence halfpenny per pound.
In addition to the substances which do duty for opium knowingly and wittingly, there are others which enter into its composition in the form of adulteration, to which writers on materia medica have drawn attention, and ultimately Dr. Hassell. These also deserve, with far greater appropriateness, the designation of false prophets, since, promising the glimpses of paradise which opium is believed to give, they only
Keep the promise to the lip
And break it with the heart.
The first sophistication, says Pereira, which opium receives, is that practised by the peasants who collect it, and who lightly scrape the epidermis from the shells or capsules to augment the weight. This operation adds about one-twelfth of foreign matters, which are removed by the Chinese in their method of preparing the opium and forming it into chandu.