Northwestern University School of Pharmacy.
Sleep hath forsook and given me o'er
To death's benumbing opium as my only cure.
--_Milton, S. A. l. 630._
The opium-yielding plant or poppy is an herb about three feet in
height; stem of a pale green color covered with a bloom. Branches are
spreading, with large, simple, lobed or incised leaves. The flowers are
solitary, few in number, quite large and showy. The four large petals
are white or a pale pink color in the wild-growing plants. The fruit
is a large capsule, one to three inches in diameter, of a depressed
globular form. The seeds are small and very numerous, filling the
compartments of the capsule. In spite of the general attractiveness
of the plant, the size of the flowers and the delicate coloring of
its petals, it is not a favorite at close range because of a heavy,
nauseating odor which emanates from all parts of the plant, the flowers
in particular. The petals furthermore have only a very temporary
existence, dropping off at the slightest touch.
The wild ancestor of our familiar garden poppy is supposed to be a
native of Corsica, Cyprus, and the Peloponnesian islands. At the
present time it is extensively cultivated everywhere, both as an
ornamental plant and for its seeds, pods, and yield of opium. It has
proven a great nuisance as a weed in the grain fields of England,
India, and other countries--something like mustard in the oat fields of
the central states. There are a number of forms or varieties of the
cultivated poppy. The red poppy, corn poppy, or rose poppy (_Papaver
Rhoeas_) is very abundant in southern and central Europe and in western
Asia. It has deep red or scarlet petals and is a very showy plant. The
long headed poppy (_P. dubium_) has smaller flowers of a lighter red
color and elongated capsules, hence the name. The Oriental poppy (_P.
orientale_) has very large, deep red flowers on a tall flower-stalk.
Various plants belonging to other genera of the poppy-family
(_Papaveraceæ_) are designated as poppy. The California poppy
(_Eschscholzia Californica_) is a very common garden plant. It has
showy yellow flowers and much divided leaves. Horn poppy (_Glaucium
luteum_) is a rather small seaside plant, with long curved pods
and solitary yellow flowers. The Mexican prickly poppy (_Argemone
Mexicana_) is widely distributed. The pods and leaves are prickly,
flowers yellow or white; the seeds yield an oil which is used as a
cathartic. Spatling or frothy poppy (_Silene inflata_) is so-called
because when punctured by insects or otherwise it emits a spittle-like
froth. Tree poppy (_Dendromecon rigidum_) is a shrub six to eight feet
high, with large, bright yellow flowers. Welsh poppy (_Mecanopsis
cambrica_), a plant found in the wooded and rocky parts of western
Europe, has sulphur-yellow flowers and is cultivated for ornament.
The use and cultivation of the poppy dates from very remote times.
The plant was well known in the time of the eminent Greek poet Homer,
who speaks of the poppy juice as a dispeller of sorrows (Odyssey, IV.
l. 220). According to Plinius the word poppy (_Papaver_) is derived
from _papa_, meaning pap, the standard food of infants, because poppy
juice was added to it for the purpose of inducing sleep. The ending
_ver_ is from _verum_, meaning true; that is, this food was the true
sleep-producing substance. Opium, the inspissated juice of the poppy
pods, was apparently not known in the time of Hippocrates, only the
freshly expressed juice being used. It is through Diocles Karystius
(350 B. C.) that we obtain the first detailed information regarding the
use of opium. Nicandros (150 B. C.) refers to the dangerous effects
produced by this drug. Scribonius Largus, Dioscorides, Celsus, and
Plinius gave us the first reports regarding the origin, production,
and adulteration of opium. Plinius mentions the method of incising the
capsules. The Arabians are said to have introduced opium into India. It
appeared in Europe during the middle ages, but was apparently in little
demand. It was much more favorably received in the Orient. In 1500 it
constituted one of the most important export articles of Calcutta.
India supplied China with large quantities of opium, at first only for
medicinal purposes. It is said that the Chinese acquired the habit of
smoking opium about the middle of the seventeenth century, and since
then it has ever been the favorite manner of consuming it.
The poppy is cultivated in temperate and tropical countries. The opium
yield of plants grown in temperate climates is, however, much less than
that of the subtropical and tropical countries, though the quality is
about the same. There are large poppy plantations in India, China, Asia
Minor, Persia, and Turkey. As already indicated, the white-flowered
variety is quite generally cultivated because it yields the most opium.
The plants are grown from seed, and it is customary, in tropical
countries, to sow several crops each season to insure against failure
and that collecting may be less interrupted. Plants of the spring
sowing flower in July. The pods do not all mature at the same time;
this, coupled with the sowing of several crops at intervals of four to
six months, makes the work of collecting almost continuous. Before the
pods are fully developed they are incised horizontally or vertically
with a knife. Generally a special knife with two and three parallel
blades is used. The blades of the knife are repeatedly moistened with
saliva to prevent the poppy juice from adhering to them. The incisions
must not extend through the walls of the capsule, as some of the juice
would escape into the interior and be lost. As soon as the incisions
are made a milky sap exudes, which gradually thickens, due to the
evaporation of moisture, and becomes darker in color. The following
day the sticky, now dark-brown juice, is scraped off and smeared on
a poppy leaf held in the left hand; more and more juice is added
until a goodly sized lump is collected. These sticky, ill-smelling
masses of opium are now placed in a shaded place to dry. The entire
process of incising and collecting as carried on by the Orientals is
exceedingly uncleanly. To the nasty habit of moistening the knife-blade
with saliva is supplemented the filth of unwashed hands and the sand
and dirt of the poppy leaves, which are added from time to time to
form a new support for the juice as it is removed from the knife.
In scraping the gum considerable epidermal tissue is also included.
Each lump of gum opium contains therefore a mixture of spittle, the
filth of dirty hands, poppy leaves, sand, and dust. In addition to
that many collectors adulterate the gum opium with a great variety of
substances. Dioscorides mentions the fact that even in those remote
times adulteration of opium was practiced, such substances as lard,
syrup, juice of lactuca, and glaucium being added. Modern collectors
and dealers adulterate opium with sand, pebbles, clay, lead, flour,
starch, licorice, chicory, gum arabic and other gums, figs, pounded
poppy capsules, an excessive quantity of poppy leaves and other leaves,
etc. After collecting and drying the peasants carry the gum opium to
the market-places, where they are met by the buyers and merchants, who
inspect the wares and fix a price very advantageous to themselves.
The present trade in opium is something enormous, especially in
India, China, and Asia Minor. To the credit of the Chinese and the
discredit of the English it must be said that in 1793 the former
strenuously objected to the introduction of opium traffic by the
latter. This opposition by the Chinese government culminated in
the "Opium War," which led to the treaty of Nanking in 1842, giving
the English the authority to introduce opium into China as a staple
article of commerce. The reason that Chinese officials objected to the
introduction of opium was because they recognized the fact that the
inhabitants very readily acquired the habit of smoking opium. In spite
of the most severe government edicts the habit spread very rapidly
after the treaty referred to.
Gum opium contains active principles (alkaloids), to which it owes its
peculiar stimulating, soporific, and pain-relieving powers. Of these
alkaloids, of which there are about nineteen, morphine and codeine are
undoubtedly the most important. The properties of gum opium represent
therefore the collective properties of all of the alkaloids and are
similar to the properties of the predominating alkaloids just mentioned.
Physicians generally agree that opium is the most important of
medicines. Properly used it is certainly a great boon to mankind,
for which there is no substitute, but, like all great blessings, it
has its abuses. It is the most effective remedy for the relief of
pains and spasms of all kinds. It will produce calm and sleep where
everything else has failed. It finds a use in all diseases and ailments
accompanied by severe pain, in delirium, rheumatic and neuralgic
troubles, in dysentery, etc. It may be applied externally to abraded
surfaces, to ulcers and inflamed tissues for the relief of pain. The
value of opium does not lie so much in its direct curative powers
as in its sedative and quieting effects upon diseased organs, which
tends to hasten or bring about the healing or recuperating process.
In some diseases the physician refrains from giving opium, as in
fully developed pneumonia, since the quieting effect would diminish
the efforts on the part of the patient to get rid of the inflammatory
products accumulating in the air vesicles and finer bronchial tubes. In
fact, the soothing effect is too often mistaken for a curative effect
and the patient is neglected. The Roman habit of feeding children pap
mixed with poppy juice was a pernicious one. Many modern mothers give
their sick and crying infants "soothing syrups," most, if not all, of
which contain opium in some form, as tincture of opium and paregoric.
Too often the poor, overworked mother, who cannot afford to consult a
physician, will purchase a bottle of "soothing syrup" or "cough remedy"
for her child because she knows it produces a quieting effect, which is
mistaken for a cure, when in reality the incipient symptoms are only
masked. Only a reliable physician should be permitted to prescribe
opium in any form.
The harm done through the use of opium by the ignorant, abetted by the
"inventors," manufacturers and sellers of the "soothing syrups" and
"cough remedies," is insignificant as compared with the harm resulting
from the opium habit, which is acquired in various ways. For instance,
a patient learns that the opium given him relieves pain and produces a
feeling of well-being; hence, even after recovering, he returns to the
use of the solace of his sickness when he suffers mental or physical
pain, and in time the habit is acquired. The scholar knowing its
properties makes use of it to deaden pain and to dispel imaginary or
real mental troubles. Any and all classes may acquire the opium habit,
but the majority of opium-eaters are from the lower and middle classes.
As with other vices, the predisposing cause is a lack of moral stamina.
Women are more addicted to the habit than men. After the habit is once
established it is practically impossible to break away from it.
Under the influence of the narcotic the opium-eater becomes mentally
active, hilarious, and even brilliant. Thoughts flow easily and freely.
In time the patient loses all sense of moral obligation; he boasts and
lies apparently without the least trouble of conscience. As soon as the
effects of the drug pass away he becomes gloomy, morose, despondent,
and he will resort to any measure to obtain a fresh supply. The dose
of the drug must be increased continually, until finally quantities are
taken which would prove fatal to several persons not addicted to its
use.
Opium victims take the narcotic in various ways. The Chinese and
Orientals in general prefer to smoke the crude opium in special pipes.
Europeans and Americans usually take it internally in the form of
the tincture or laudanum, paregoric or the powder of the sulphate of
morphine or codeine. Frequently a solution of morphine is injected
under the skin by means of a hypodermic syringe. No matter how it is
taken the effects are about the same.
The treatment of the opium habit consists principally in the gradual
withdrawal of the supply of the drug and strengthening the weakened
system by proper exercise and diet, but, as indicated, the habit, if
once fully established, is very difficult to cure. While, as stated,
most of the opium-eaters belong to the poorer and middle classes,
there are a number from the wealthy idle classes and not a few from
professional classes who are slaves to the habit. The brilliant
and gifted De Quincey was addicted to this habit and recorded his
experience in his "Confessions of an Opium-Eater."
The capsules and seeds of the opium plant are also used. The capsules
are collected at maturity, but while yet green, usually during the
month of July. They are broken and dried in a shaded, well-ventilated
place, and finally in a moderately warm place; they are then broken in
still smaller pieces, the seeds shaken out and the capsule fragments
placed in well-sealed glass or tin receivers. The seeds, which are
known as maw seeds, are collected at maturity and placed in wooden
boxes. The seeds yield an oil which is used much like sweet oil;
artists also use it in mixing colors.