OPIUM

325
about  the  year  1057,  it  is  stated  that  “  the  poppy  is  found
everywhere.  .  .  .  There  are  two  kinds,  one  with  red
flowers,  one  with  white.  .  .  .  When  the  capsules  have
become  dry  and  yellow,  they  may  be  plucked.  ...  In
cases  of  nausea  it  will  be  found  serviceable  to  administer
a  decoction  of  poppy-seeds  made  in  the  following  way.  .  ."
A  medical  writer,  Lin  Hung,  probably  of  the  twelfth
century,  makes  the  first  reference  to  the  use  of  the  capsules,
which  contain  the  juice  from  which  opium  is  prepared.
He  directs  that  the  entire  poppy  head  be  taken,  washed,
and  the  juice  pressed  out  and  filtered,  and  then  boiled
and  afterward  steamed  :  the  residue  may  then  be  taken
out  and  “  made  up  into  cakes  shaped  like  a  fish."  The
result  of  this  process  is  opium,  mixed  with  the  impurity  of
the  vegetable  substance  of  the  capsule.  Three  other
writers  of  the  same  period,  Yang  Shih-ying,  Wang  Chiu,  and
Wang  Shih,  refer  explicitly  to  the  merits  of  the  poppy
capsule  in  curing  dysentery.  Three  writers  on  medical
subjects  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Liu  Ho-kien,  Li  Kao,
and  Wei  I-lin,  and  one  of  the  fourteenth  century,  Chu
Chen-heng,  also  describe  the  mode  of  preparing  the  “  fishcake ­
  ’’  paste  from  the  capsule  and  its  use  in  the  pharmacopoeia. ­
  The  last-named  states  “  it  is  used  also  for  diarrhoea
and  dysentery  accompanied  by  local  inflammation  ;  though
its  effects  are  quick,  great  care  must  be  taken  in  using  it,
because  it  kills  like  a  knife."
The  first  reference  to  scoring  the  fresh  capsule  in  situ
to  obtain  the  inspissated  juice,  which  by  manipulation
becomes  opium,  is  in  the  writings  of  Wang  Hi,  who  died
in  1488  ;  he  says,  “  Opium  is  produced  in  Arabia  from
poppies  with  red  flowers  .  .  .  after  the  flower  has  faded
the  capsule  while  still  fresh  is  pricked  for  the  juice."
Wang  Hi  was  Governor  for  twenty  years  of  the  province
of  Kansu,  where  he  would  come  in  contact  with  Mohammedans, ­
  from  whom  he  could  learn  of  Arab  arts  and  industries. ­
  In  the  “  Eastern  Treasury  of  Medicine,"  a
Korean  work  of  the  same  period,  is  given  an  exact  account
of  the  method  of  scoring  the  capsule,  gathering  the  exuded