An essay on the opium trade, including a sketch of its history, extent, effects, etc., as carried on in India and China / By Nathan Allen.

  • Allen, Nathan, 1813-1889.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the opium trade, including a sketch of its history, extent, effects, etc., as carried on in India and China / By Nathan Allen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    whole amount of the revenue of the United States, from all sources whatever, and a larger sum than any one nation on the globe pays to another for a single raw material, with the excep¬ tion of what Great Britain pays to this country for cotton. The traffic is yet comparatively new, -— has grown with unparalleled rapidity, and is almost unknown except to those personally concerned in it. Opium is a production of the plant, Papaver Somniferum, and commonly called, in English, Poppy. The peculiar pro¬ perties of this vegetable were discovered at a very early age. Though it is not specifically mentioned by name in the Old Tes¬ tament, yet there are good grounds to believe that the product or juice of the Poppy constituted an important element of what is called in Scripture, “ mixed wine.” The art of distillation not being then known, it was customary to mix certain drugs, and aromatic gums, with their wines, in order to improve their flavor, and give them more stimulating qualities. Homer and other Greek writers, who lived in the same century as David and Solo¬ mon, make frequent mention of the peculiar intoxicating proper¬ ties of the Poppy. It was also well known among the Romans. Virgil, Livy, Pliny, Ovid, and other authors, describe it as being used for various purposes. The Poppy was originally a native of Persia, but it may now be found growing as an ornamental plant in gardens throughout the civilized world. It is cultivated somewhat extensively in Turkey, and most of the opium used for medical purposes in Europe and America, is produced in that country. But India affords a far more extensive field for its cultivation. It is estimated that more than 100,000 acres of the rich plains of central India, as well as the alluvial valley of the Ganges, are now occupied for this pur¬ pose. Formerly these same grounds were used for the produc¬ tion of sugar, indigo, corn, and other grain, but these useful crops have yielded to the more profitable culture of the Poppy. It appears that a mild climate, rich soil, plentiful irrigation, and diligent husbandry are absolutely necessary for its successful cul¬ tivation. The crop is also very much dependent on the season, being easily injured by storms and winds, as well as seriously affected by the amount of moisture distilled in the form of dew.