OCRd and reformatted by Fone Ranger
NB: The really interesting stuff is highlighted in blue. Spelling is as in the original.
COCA (Erythroxylon Coca), a shrubby plant belonging to the natural order Erythroxylacese, found wild in the mountainous regions of Peru and Boli- via, and cultivated in districts 2000 to 5000 feet above sea-level. The leaves are gathered and dried in the sun, and chewed with a little powdered chalk. When taken in some quantity they produce an intoxication like that of opium. As the indulgence is repeated the appetite for it increases, while that for wholesome nourishment diminishes; the miserable victim loses all power of resisting his craving, and becomes reduced to a condition of physical and mental prostration. When used in moderation coca lessens the appetite for food and enables those who have partaken of it to sustain greater fatigue than they otherwise could. It has been found the best preventive of asthmatic symptoms caused by the rapid ascent of lofty mountains. An infusion of the leaves is also used with the same effect. See next article.
COCAINE (C17H21NO4), an alkaloid obtained from the leaves of the shrub coca described in the preceding article. It forms colourless transparent prisms, has a bitter taste, no smell, and is readily soluble in ether. It possesses the power of abolishing the sensibility of the skin and mucous membranes, so that when a solution is applied to the tongue or the eye sensation is abolished in a few minutes, and an operation can be conducted without pain. Sensation returns again after a few hours. Care must be employed in the use of this drug (which in a liquid extract is given to produce sleep), because, when taken in too large doses, it is poisonous. Too large a dose produces giddiness, headache, and delirium, while death may result from stoppage of breathing. In such a case stimulants are the appropriate remedy.
MORPHINE, or MORPHIA. In the 17th century it was known that a substance having peculiar pro-perties could be obtained from opium; to this substance the name of 'magisterium opii' was given; but it was not until the year 1816 that morphine was prepared as a well-defined organic base. To prepare this base opium is cut into pieces, which are macerated in water at about 38° until all the soluble matter is extracted; the liquid thus obtained is evaporated with addition of calcium carbonate in quantity sufficient to neutralize all the free acid. When the liquid is sufficiently evaporated calcium chloride is added, whereby calcium meconate is precipitated, along with a considerable quantity of colouring matter. By filtration and further concentration crystals of morphine hydrochloride are obtained mixed with hydrochlorides of the other opium bases (codeine, narcotine, &c.) From this mixed precipitate the morphine salt is separated by repeated crystallization and final precipitation with ammonia.
Morphine crystallizes in colourless, transparent, short, trimetric prisms, which are inodorous, have a very bitter taste, and are extremely poisonous. It is much used in medicine in small doses as a sedative. Morphine is but very slightly soluble in cold water, hot water dissolves rather more of it, in alcohol it is sparingly soluble, ether does not dissolve it, but it is easily dissolved by aqueous alkalies. The analysis of morphine and a consideration of its reactions, lead to the adoption of the formula C17H19NO3. As morphine is an extremely poisonous substance, and may therefore be used with criminal intent, it is important that we should have means of readily and unmistakably detecting its presence. If the contents of a stomach, or other animal matter, have to be examined, it is necessary that the organic matter be entirely separated, and the morphine obtained in a pure state, before proceeding to apply tests for its presence. This process cannot be well described in an article like the present; if the morphine, however, has been obtained by itself the following tests may be applied.
Morphine is capable of polymerization (which see). By the action of sulphuric acid on morphine under certain conditions new substances, whose formulae are double, triple, and quadruple that of morphine itself, are produced. The higher polymerides have a very marked emetic action.
Morphine is a substance that in recent years has been very much employed medicinally by the method of hypodermic injection, that is injection under the skin by means of a small pointed syringe. Its effects are similar to those of opium. In many cases persons have become habitually addicted to the use of opium in this way from the temporary pleasure it imparts, such use, when carried to excess, being known as morphinomania.
OPIUM, the inspissated juice of the a species of poppy (Papaver somniferum), a native originally of the East, but now naturalized throughout the greater part of Europe. The root of this plant is annual, giving out a stem of 2 to 4 feet high, which, as well as the leaves, is glaucous. The flowers are terminal, white or light gray, and 3 or 4 inches in diameter; in the wild plant they are provided with only four petals, but in the double varieties the petals are numerous, and vary in colour from white to red and to deep violet, with intervening shades. The capsules provide a prodigious number of seeds. The poppy is found in most gardens as an ornamental plant, and is cultivated extensively in many parts of Europe, but only for the sake of the oil which is obtained from the seeds. It is from the East, from different parts of the Turkish Empire, and from Hindustan, that the commerce is chiefly procured. That imported into Great Britain comes principally from Turkey. The quantity imported in 1900 was 833,330 lbs., of which 619,292 lbs. came from Turkey. The value was £426,785. The value of opium exported from British India has sometimes amounted to £18,000,000. It is there an important source of revenue, being partly grown on government account, and where grown in the native states subjected to a heavy export tax. It is grown chiefly in Behar, the North-west Provinces (especially the Benares division), and Oudh; and in Malwa and Gujerat, which belong to native states. The net revenue derived from opium in India was £4,400,000 in 1900, but formerly was much greater. Most of it is exported to China – where it is preferred to home-grown opium – and to South-eastern Asia.
The finest opium is obtained by making longitudinal incisions in the green capsules in the evening; the milky juice which flows out is suffered to remain till the following evening to acquire consistence, when it is removed, and the process repeated. When the seeds are the sole object the time of sowing is in the autumn, and at the end of the following July or beginning of August the crop is ready for harvesting. Before cutting off the capsules it is better to shake them on cloths spread for the purpose; or if this precaution is not taken, they should be removed with great care, keeping them always in an upright position until they are placed in sacks; otherwise a portion of the seed will be lost. The capsules should then be exposed to the air to complete their desiccation, and the seed, after being separated, should be kept in a dry place. The oil has an agreeable taste, and after olive-oil, is esteemed the best for culinary purposes. In Germany and the Netherlands it is almost the only kind used. The seeds, after being roasted and prepared in various manners, were employed by the Romans in making several sorts of cakes and dainties; and this custom is still prevalent in some parts of the north of France.
Opium is the most energetic of narcotics, and at the same time one of the most precious of all medicines, and is employed in the greatest variety of cases. It is invaluable in procuring relief from pain at all times. It is most commonly employed for the purpose of procuring sleep; but its habitual use is attended with similar, if not worse effects, than the abuse of ardent spirits. A full dose ia intoxicating and exhilarating, but if taken in large quantities it produces dangerous and fatal effects. An emetic should be immediately resorted to in such cases. Laudanum is a liquid preparation of opium made with alcohol, and is similar in its effects on the human system. Madden, in his Travels in Turkey, &c., speaking of the opium eaters of Constantinople, whom he saw in a coffee-house frequented by them, says,
'Their gestures were frightful; those who were completely under the influence of the opium talked incoherently, their features were flushed, their eyes had an unnatural brilliancy, and the general expression of their countenances was horribly wild. The effect is usually produced in two hours, and lasts four or five. The dose varies from 3 grains to a drachm. The debility, both moral and physical, attendant on its excitement is terrible: the appetite is soon destroyed, and every fibre in the body trembles; the nerves of the neck become affected, and the muscles get rigid. Several I have seen in this place who had wry necks and contracted fingers, but still cannot abandon the custom. They are miserable till the hour arrives for taking their daily dose.
This very strong description of the evils produced by the habitual use of opium is not, however, fully borne out by the experience of other observers, at least so far as the moderate use of the drug is concerned. Mr. Crawfurd, for instance, a very competant authority on the subject, states (Dictionary of the Indian Islands, &c.),
'Like any other narcotic or stimulant, the habitual use of it is amenable to abuse, and as being more seductive than other stimulants perhaps more so; but this is certainly the utmost that can be safely charged to it. Thousands consume it without any pernicious result, as thousands do wine and spirits without any evil consequence. I know of no person of long experience and competent judgment who has not come to this common-sense conclusion.'
He then quotes the opinion of Dr. Oxiey, long resident at Singapore, where the rate of consumption of the drug is very high. Dr. Oxiey's statement is—
The inordinate use, or rather abuse, of the drug most decidedly does bring on early decrepitude, loss of appetite, and a morbid state of all the secretions; but I have seen a man who had used the drug for fifty years, in moderation, without any evil effects; and one man I recollect in Malacca who had so used it, was upwards of eighty. Several in the habit of smoking it have assured me that, in moderation, it neither impaired the functions nor shortened life; -at the same time fully admitting the effects of too much.
The testimony of Sir Benjamin Brodie is also. to the same effect. Mr. Orawfurd remarks that though the Chinese do in the aggregate consume a very large quantity, yet the amount consumed by individuals is on the average not very great, and therefore that it cannot have those deleterious effects so commonly attributed to it. The quantity grown in China is much greater than in India, and is increasing, but its quality is inferior.
There has been a considerable amount of discussion with regard to the immediate effects of opium on the mind and nervous system, and some have doubted or denied the existence of those dreams or visions which are alleged to prove so seductive to the opium- eater. Dr. Christison, however, in his work on Poisons, states his full belief in the latter, and with regard to these and other effects of the drug on the system makes the following remarks:—
A very poetical, but I believe also a very faithful picture of the phenomena now alluded to, is given in the Confessions of an English Opium-eater (see Da QUINCEY), a work published not long ago by a gentleman who writes from personal experience. It is singular that our profession should have observed these phenomena so little as to be accused by the author of having wholly misrepresented the action of the most common drug in medical practice. In reply to this charge the physician may simply observe that he seldom administers opium in the way practised by the opium-eater ; that when given in the usual therapeutic mode it rarely causes material excitement; that some professional people prefer giving it in frequent small doses, with the view of procuring its sedative effect with greater certainty, and undoubtedly do succeed often in attaining their object; that in both of these medicinal ways of administering it excitement is occasionally produced to a very great degree, and of a very disagreeable kind; that the latter phenomena have been clearly traced to idiosyncrasy; and therefore that the effects on opium-eaters are probably owing either to the same cause or to the modifying power of habit. This much at all events is certain, that opium seldom produces a material excitement in a single small dose; and does not always cause continuous excitement when taken after the manner of the opium-eaters. The effects of a full medicinal dose of 3 grains of solid opium, or a drachm of the tincture, is to produce in general a transient excitement and fulness of the pulse; but in a short time afterwards torpor and sleep, commonly succeeded in six, eight, or ten hours by headache, nausea, and dry tongue.
The habitual use of opium is exceptional in Great Britain; but in China, the south-east of Asia, and the Malay Archipelago, it is very common. It is chiefly smoked and not eaten in these parts of the world, a special pipe, lamp, &c., being employed. Before it is suited for smoking it goes through several processes, which bring it into the form of a blackish viscous paste. The pipe, or rather the stem of the pipe, is made of heavy wood, and is about the length and size of an ordinary flute; the bowl is generally made of earthenware. The smoker, who is always lying, or at least reclining, takes a small portion of opium about the size of a pea on the end of a spoon-headed needle, heats it at the lamp, and then places it in the bowl of the pipe, the pellet of opium having previously been perforated with the needle. He then brings the opium to the flame of the lamp, inhales the smoke in several inspirations, and is then ready to repeat the process with a fresh quantity of opium. The smoke is exhaled through the nostrils. Old smokers are able to fill the lungs with it. The smell of the burning opium is rather sickening to those unaccustomed to it.
Opium contains a number of alkaloids, among whici the principal are narcotine, morphine, codeine, narceine, thebaine, and papaverine, several organic acids, especially meconic acid; one or more neutral substances, meconin, opium resin, &c.; and a varying amount of inorganic material, potash, lime, ammonia, magnesia, &c., in combination with hydrochloric, sulphuric, phosphoric, and silicic acids. The proportioni of these constituents vary in different samples; the percentage of morphine found in various kinds of opium has been found to vary from 2 to 17. According to their physiological action, the opium bases may be divided into the three following classes, the most active in each class being placed first:—
| Narcotic | Exciting | Poisonous |
| Narceine Morphine Codeine |
Thebaine Papaverine Narcotine Codeine Morphine Narceine |
Thebaine Codeine Papaverine Narceine Morphine Narcotine |
See the various articles MORPHINE, CODEINE, &c.
There has been for some time an English association whose object is to bring to an end the manufacture and sale of opium in British India, and its use except for medicinal purposes; and as a result of its action a royal commission was appointed in 1893 to inquire into the whole subject. The report of the commission (before which a great amount of evidence was laid) was issued in 1895, and the commissioners by a majority of eight to one were unanimous in their findings against the advocates of prohibition, their general conclusion being that the moral and physical degradation generally attributed to the use of opium was not supported by the evidence, and that the use of the drug in India was moderate and led to no evident ill effects. Opium was first introduced to the Chinese by Arab traders, and its cultivation in China began in the eighth century of our era, the plant being everywhere familiar in the eleventh, according to the researches of Dr. Edkins, the Chinese scholar and missionary.
(End)