tains a very small quantity of the narcotic
principle. Samshing, however, is never smoked, as it cannot furnish
any smoke, but is swallowed, and that not unfrequently mixed with
arrack.

_Preparation_.--In Asia Minor, men, women, and children, a few days
after the flower falls from the poppies, proceed to the fields, and
with a shell scratch the capsules, wait twenty-four hours, and
collect the tears, which amount to two or three grains in weight
from each capsule. These being collected and mixed with the
scrapings of the shells, worked up with saliva and surrounded by
dried leaves, it is then sold, but, generally speaking, not without
being still more adulterated with cow's dung, sand, gravel, the
petals of flowers, &c. Different kinds of opium are known in the
markets of Europe and Asia.

The first in point of quality is the _Smyrna_, known in commerce as
the _Turkey_ or _Levant_. It occurs in irregular, rounded, flattened
masses, seldom exceeding two pounds in weight, and surrounded by
leaves of a kind of sorrel; the quantity of morphia said to be
derived from average specimens is eight per cent.

Second, _Constantinople Opium_, two kinds of which are found in the
market, one in very voluminous irregular cakes, which are flattened
like the Smyrna; this is a good quality. The other kind is in small,
flattened, regular cakes, from two to two and a half inches in
diameter, and covered with the leaves of the poppy; the quantity of
morphia is very uncertain in this description of opium, sometimes
mounting as high as 15 per cent., and sometimes descending so low as
six, showing the great variety in the quality of the drug.

Third, _Egyptian Opium_, occurs in round flattened cakes, about 3
inches in diameter, and covered externally with the vestiges of
some leaf. It is distinguished from the others by its reddish color,
resembling "Socotrine Aloes." The quantity of morphia in this is
inferior to the preceding. It has one quality which, when
adulterated, ought to be known, that is a musty smell. By keeping it
does not blacken like the other kinds.

Fourth, _English Opium_, is in flat cakes or balls enveloped in
leaves. It resembles fine Egyptian opium more than any other kind.
Its color is that of hepatic aloes, and in the quantity of morphia
it is inferior to the preceding, but in the