Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 1.djvu/79

Rh thought of. Those on the other hand who are disposed to underrate the injury opium inflicts, draw their conclusions from probably a limited number of cases, or from instances where the drug is used in such moderation, as scarcely to affect the system more, than we daily witness from the habitual use of a small quantity of ardent spirits. That both are bad is undoubtedly true, and equally that the less consumed of either one or the other so much the better for the consumer, but, judging from the accounts of travellers, who have visited countries inhabited principally by Musselmen, nearly all of whom, from being restricted by the ordinances of their religion from indulging in the use of spirits, use opium, the balance in favour of spirits does not appear by any means so great, as the former would have us believe; and as the sources of their (spirits) supply are so much more numerous, and the facility of production so much greater, perhaps upon the whole, could the world be entirely deprived of one of the two, it would be a gainer by the abstraction of spirits. Used moderately and with due discrimination, neither are so bad as extreme moralists would have us believe, while both are in particular circumstances necessary to our welfare; the one, not seldom, being indispensable, where the other would prove exceedingly hurtful. Used to an injurious excess, language does not possess terms strong enough to portray the horrors which both induce, and which the mere looker on can easily perceive, though none but the confirmed inebriate can adequately describe.

Dr. Macnish (Anatomy of Drunkenness), seems to think that the injurious effects of Opium on the human constitution are not always confined to the individual using it, but may extend to the offspring. The following are the facts on which he grounds this opinion. "An inquest was held at Walpole lately on the body of Rebecca Eason, aged 5 years, who had been diseased from her birth, was unable to walk or articulate, and from her size did not appear more than 5 weeks old. The mother had for many years been in the habit of taking Opium in large quantities, (nearly a quarter of an ounce a day), and it is supposed had entailed a disease on her child which caused its death; it was reduced to a mere skeleton, and had been in that state from birth. Verdict—'Died by the Visitation of God ; but from the great quantity of Opium taken, before birth and while suckling it, by the mother, she had greatly injured its health.' It appeared that the mother of the deceased had had five children; that she began to take Opium after the birth and weaning of her first child, which was and is remarkably healthy; and that the other children have all lingered and died in the same emaciated state as the child who was the subject of the inquest." The interesting facts brought to light through this inquest, cannot be made too extensively known, but at the same time, it would be unphilosophical to infer from those stated that, all the evil here recorded was attributable to the Opium, since we are not informed, whether or not, the mother was led into the habit to alleviate distress arising from corporeal disease, perhaps of the organs of generation themselves, from which, the offspring may have in part inherited, the disease to which it fell a victim.

The poppy is largely cultivated in many parts of Europe for the sake of its seed, and capsules, without reference to the juice. The seeds abound in a very pure sweet oil, inferior only to that of the olive, for all culinary purposes to which such oils are applied, and are besides esteemed for their alimentary qualities.


 * 1. Flowering branch of Argemone mexicana—natural size.
 * 2. Stamens and ovary, the sepals and petals removed.
 * 3, 4. Stamens and pollen.
 * 5. Petal detached. 6. Ovary cut vertically, showing the numerous ovule* attached to the parietal placentae, the whole length of the ovary—magnified.
 * 7. Ripe fruit, with valves of the capsule open, leaving the filiform, placentae still attached to the stigma—natural size.
 * 8. Fruit cut transversely, showing the 5 placentas with their attached ovules—all more or less magnified.
 * 9. A detached seed.
 * 10. The same cut longitudinally, showing the embryo at the base of a large albumen.
 * 11. Embryo separated.

 

These viewed in their Botanical relations simply, form a curious and interesting order; but in Indian Botany, one of very minor importance, only one species being found in the southern 