69
the Economic Products of India.
Estimation of Value of Opium.
PAPAVER
somniferum.
MANUFAC
-TURE.
Valuation.
ill-ventilated and smoky closets, or shutting it up for security in small,
close receptacles, will dissipate and destory the aroma in drug that is
otherwise intrinsically good, and will even give it an offensive odour.
" The aroma of the drug is one of its chief commercial criterions, and as
such should be carefully guarded by the cultivator. To the Opium Exa
-miner it gives a very important indication as to the suitability of the drug
for the various factory purposes. It is only by chemical tests that the
Examiner can be certain that opium that is devoid of aroma or offensive
to the smell, although apparently good as to texture and colour, has not
also a foreign substance in its composition, assuming that the foreign sub
-stance, if present, has not given the clue by its own specific odour. Under
any circumstances, opium deteriorated in its aroma, although it may be
otherwise pure, should be set aside and utilised for other than the main
factory purpose, that is, amalgamation with drug intended for the central
mass of cakes, otherwise there will be risk of the deteriorated drug tainting
a much larger mass of good opium " (Pharmacog. Indica. I., 101 to 107).
Adulteration of Opium.—The late Surgeon-Major Sheppard, Principal
Assistant Opium Agent, Benares, drew up the following enumeration of
the adulterants generally used by the cultivators :—
" 1. Adulteration with fresh green parts of the poppy plant, including
watery extracts.
" 2. Adulteration with foreign extractives, and vegetable matter, such
as the inspissated juice of the Opuntia Dillenii and Calotropis gigantea,
extracts of the tobacco plant, datura, and hemp.
" 3. Gums and resinous matters. A gum resin derived from different
species of Ficus, and called lassa. The resin of Shorea robusta (sál),
pulp of Bael fruit, gum from seeds of Tal-i-makhana (Hygrophylla
spinosa). tamarind pulp, gum from Acacia arabica.
"4. Farinaceous admixtures, including linseed, poppy seed, seeds of
leguminous plants, and esculent tubers and roots. The starchy matter is
often heated for a long time before being used ; hence iodine reaction may
fail.
" 5. Vegetable substances containing tannin and colouring matters.
Catechu, gáb (Diospyros Embryopteris, juice of fruit), turmeric, flowers
of Bassia latifolia, betel-nut, extract of pomegranate bark.
"6. Saccharine matter ; vegetable oils and ghí ; soot, charcoal, and
semi-burnt opium ; cotton and paper ; cowdung ; earthy and siliceous
matter ; pounded burnt bricks; impure carbonate of soda, &c."
Scott in his Opium Husbandry gives an instructive review of the
adulterants employed in opium, see pp. 121 to 127. He regards those
alluded to in paragraph 4 above as the most important since the materials
are at hand to every cultivator.
Process of Manufacture at the Government Agencies.
The earliest and to the present day the best detailed account of the
various stages and manipulations in the manufacture of opium, is given
by Dr. Eatwell (in 1851). Most subsequent writers have satisfied them
-selves by reproducing Dr. Eatwell's account and have altered his expres-
-sions and sentences only so far as seemed necessary to lay claim to origin
-ality. Perhaps the most concise version of Dr. Eatwell's description is that
given in Spons' Encyclopœdia, which, from its being rendered in a less tech
-nical form than the original, may preferentially be reproduced here :—
"When weighed into store, the opium is kept in large wooden boxes, hold--
ing about 10 cwt.; if below the standard, it is occasionally stirred up, to
favour its thickening ; and if very low is placed in shallow wooden
ADULTER
-ATION.
OPIUM
FACTORY.