Birds and all Nature Vol VII, No. 3, March 1900

The wild ancestor of our familiar garden poppy is supposed to be a native of Corsica, Cyprus, and the Peloponnesian islands. At the present time it is extensively cultivated everywhere, both as an ornamental plant and for its seeds, pods, and yield of opium. It has proven a great nuisance as a weed in the grain fields of England, India, and other countries – something like mustard in the oat fields of the central states. There are a number of forms or varieties of the cultivated poppy. The red poppy, corn poppy, or rose poppy (Papaver Rhoeas) is very abundant in southern and central Europe and in western Asia. It has deep red or scarlet petals and is a very showy plant. The long headed poppy (P. dubium) has smaller flowers of a lighter red color and elongated capsules, hence the name. The Oriental poppy (P. orientale) has very large, deep red flowers on a tall flower-stalk.

Various plants belonging to other genera of the poppy-family (Papaveraceæ) are designated as poppy. The California poppy (Eschscholzia Californica) is a very common garden plant. It has showy yellow flowers and much divided leaves. Horn poppy (Glaucium luteum) is a rather small seaside plant, with long curved pods and solitary yellow flowers. The Mexican prickly poppy (Argemone Mexicana) is widely distributed. The pods and leaves are prickly, flowers yellow or white; the seeds yield an oil which is used as a cathartic. Spatling or frothy poppy (Silene inflata) is so-called because when punctured by insects or otherwise it emits a spittle-like froth. Tree poppy (Dendromecon rigidum) is a shrub six to eight feet high, with large, bright yellow flowers. Welsh poppy (Mecanopsis cambrica), a plant found in the wooded and rocky parts of western Europe, has sulphur-yellow flowers and is cultivated for ornament.

The use and cultivation of the poppy dates from very remote times. The plant was well known in the time of the eminent Greek poet Homer, who speaks of the poppy juice as a dispeller of sorrows (Odyssey, IV. l. 220). According to Plinius the word poppy (Papaver) is derived from papa, meaning pap, the standard food of infants, because poppy juice was added to it for the purpose of inducing sleep. The ending ver is from verum, meaning true; that is, this food was the true sleep-producing substance. Opium, the inspissated juice of the poppy pods, was apparently not known in the time of Hippocrates, only the freshly expressed juice being used. It is through Diocles Karystius (350 B. C.) that we obtain the first detailed information regarding the use of opium. Nicandros (150 B. C.) refers to the dangerous effects produced by this drug. Scribonius Largus, Dioscorides, Celsus, and Plinius gave us the first reports regarding the origin, production, and adulteration of opium. Plinius mentions the method of incising the capsules. The Arabians are said to have introduced opium into India. It appeared in Europe during the middle ages, but was apparently in little demand. It was much more favorably received in the Orient. In 1500 it constituted one of the most important export articles of Calcutta. India supplied China with large quantities of opium, at first only for medicinal purposes. It is said that the Chinese acquired the habit of smoking opium about the middle of the seventeenth century, and since then it has ever been the favorite manner of consuming it.

The poppy is cultivated in temperate and tropical countries. The opium yield of plants grown in temperate climates is, however, much less than that of the subtropical and tropical countries, though the quality is about the same. There are large poppy plantations in India, China, Asia Minor, Persia, and Turkey. As already indicated, the white-flowered variety is quite generally cultivated because it yields the most opium.

The plants are grown from seed, and it is customary, in tropical countries, to sow several crops each season to insure against failure and that collecting may be less interrupted. Plants of the spring sowing flower in July. The pods do not all mature at the same time; this, coupled with the sowing of several crops at intervals of four to six months, makes the work of collecting almost continuous. Before the pods are fully developed they are incised horizontally or vertically with a knife. Generally a special knife with two and three parallel blades is used. The blades of the knife are repeatedly moistened with saliva to prevent the poppy juice from adhering to them. The incisions must not extend through the walls of the capsule, as some of the juice would escape into the interior and be lost. As soon as the incisions are made a milky sap exudes, which gradually thickens, due to the evaporation of moisture, and becomes darker in color. The following day the sticky, now dark-brown juice, is scraped off and smeared on a poppy leaf held in the left hand; more and more juice is added until a goodly sized lump is collected. These sticky, ill-smelling masses of opium are now placed in a shaded place to dry. The entire process of incising and collecting as carried on by the Orientals is exceedingly uncleanly. To the nasty habit of moistening the knife-blade with saliva is supplemented the filth of unwashed hands and the sand and dirt of the poppy leaves, which are added from time to time to form a new support for the juice as it is removed from the knife. In scraping the gum considerable epidermal tissue is also included. Each lump of gum opium contains therefore a mixture of spittle, the filth of dirty hands, poppy leaves, sand, and dust. In addition to that many collectors adulterate the gum opium with a great variety of substances. Dioscorides mentions the fact that even in those remote times adulteration of opium was practiced, such substances as lard, syrup, juice of lactuca, and glaucium being added. Modern collectors and dealers adulterate opium with sand, pebbles, clay, lead, flour, starch, licorice, chicory, gum arabic and other gums, figs, pounded poppy capsules, an excessive quantity of poppy leaves and other leaves, etc. After collecting and drying the peasants carry the gum opium to the market-places, where they are met by the buyers and merchants, who inspect the wares and fix a price very advantageous to themselves.

The present trade in opium is something enormous, especially in India, China, and Asia Minor. To the credit of the Chinese and the discredit of the English it must be said that in 1793 the former strenuously objected to the introduction of opium traffic by the latter. This opposition by the Chinese government culminated in the "Opium War," which led to the treaty of Nanking in 1842, giving the English the authority to introduce opium into China as a staple article of commerce. The reason that Chinese officials objected to the introduction of opium was because they recognized the fact that the inhabitants very readily acquired the habit of smoking opium. In spite of the most severe government edicts the habit spread very rapidly after the treaty referred to.

Gum opium contains active principles (alkaloids), to which it owes its peculiar stimulating, soporific, and pain-relieving powers. Of these alkaloids, of which there are about nineteen, morphine and codeine are undoubtedly the most important. The properties of gum opium represent therefore the collective properties of all of the alkaloids and are similar to the properties of the predominating alkaloids just mentioned.

Physicians generally agree that opium is the most important of medicines. Properly used it is certainly a great boon to mankind, for which there is no substitute, but, like all great blessings, it has its abuses. It is the most effective remedy for the relief of pains and spasms of all kinds. It will produce calm and sleep where everything else has failed. It finds a use in all diseases and ailments accompanied by severe pain, in delirium, rheumatic and neuralgic troubles, in dysentery, etc. It may be applied externally to abraded surfaces, to ulcers and inflamed tissues for the relief of pain. The value of opium does not lie so much in its direct curative powers as in its sedative and quieting effects upon diseased organs, which tends to hasten or bring about the healing or recuperating process. In some diseases the physician refrains from giving opium, as in fully developed pneumonia, since the quieting effect would diminish the efforts on the part of the patient to get rid of the inflammatory products accumulating in the air vesicles and finer bronchial tubes. In fact, the soothing effect is too often mistaken for a curative effect and the patient is neglected. The Roman habit of feeding children pap mixed with poppy juice was a pernicious one. Many modern mothers give their sick and crying infants "soothing syrups," most, if not all, of which contain opium in some form, as tincture of opium and paregoric. Too often the poor, overworked mother, who cannot afford to consult a physician, will purchase a bottle of "soothing syrup" or "cough remedy" for her child because she knows it produces a quieting effect, which is mistaken for a cure, when in reality the incipient symptoms are only masked. Only a reliable physician should be permitted to prescribe opium in any form.

The harm done through the use of opium by the ignorant, abetted by the "inventors," manufacturers and sellers of the "soothing syrups" and "cough remedies," is insignificant as compared with the harm resulting from the opium habit, which is acquired in various ways. For instance, a patient learns that the opium given him relieves pain and produces a feeling of well-being; hence, even after recovering, he returns to the use of the solace of his sickness when he suffers mental or physical pain, and in time the habit is acquired. The scholar knowing its properties makes use of it to deaden pain and to dispel imaginary or real mental troubles. Any and all classes may acquire the opium habit, but the majority of opium-eaters are from the lower and middle classes. As with other vices, the predisposing cause is a lack of moral stamina. Women are more addicted to the habit than men. After the habit is once established it is practically impossible to break away from it.

Under the influence of the narcotic the opium-eater becomes mentally active, hilarious, and even brilliant. Thoughts flow easily and freely. In time the patient loses all sense of moral obligation; he boasts and lies apparently without the least trouble of conscience. As soon as the effects of the drug pass away he becomes gloomy, morose, despondent, and he will resort to any measure to obtain a fresh supply. The dose of the drug must be increased continually, until finally quantities are taken which would prove fatal to several persons not addicted to its use.

Opium victims take the narcotic in various ways. The Chinese and Orientals in general prefer to smoke the crude opium in special pipes. Europeans and Americans usually take it internally in the form of the tincture or laudanum, paregoric or the powder of the sulphate of morphine or codeine. Frequently a solution of morphine is injected under the skin by means of a hypodermic syringe. No matter how it is taken the effects are about the same.

The treatment of the opium habit consists principally in the gradual withdrawal of the supply of the drug and strengthening the weakened system by proper exercise and diet, but, as indicated, the habit, if once fully established, is very difficult to cure. While, as stated, most of the opium-eaters belong to the poorer and middle classes, there are a number from the wealthy idle classes and not a few from professional classes who are slaves to the habit. The brilliant and gifted De Quincey was addicted to this habit and recorded his experience in his "Confessions of an Opium-Eater."

The capsules and seeds of the opium plant are also used. The capsules are collected at maturity, but while yet green, usually during the month of July. They are broken and dried in a shaded, well-ventilated place, and finally in a moderately warm place; they are then broken in still smaller pieces, the seeds shaken out and the capsule fragments placed in well-sealed glass or tin receivers. The seeds, which are known as maw seeds, are collected at maturity and placed in wooden boxes. The seeds yield an oil which is used much like sweet oil; artists also use it in mixing colors.

THE PRIMROSE

PROF. WILLIAM KERR HIGLEY,Secretary of The Chicago Academy of SciencesWhat can the blessed spring restoreMore gladdening than your charms?Bringing the memory once moreOf lovely fields and farms!Of thickets, breezes, birds, and flowersOf life's unfolding prime;Of thoughts as cloudless as the hours;Of souls without a crime.– Mary Howitt.

AMONG the many beautiful blossoms to be found in the field, the forest, or the garden probably none have served to inspire the poet more than the primrose and its near relative, the English cowslip. Someone has said that "no flowers typify the beautiful more strongly than those of the primrose which, though showy, are delicate and seem inclined to retire to the shade of the plant's leaves."

These plants belong to the Primrose family (Primulaceæ) which includes twenty-eight genera and over three-hundred and fifty species. Nearly all are natives of the Northern hemisphere, some being found as far north as Greenland (the Greenland primrose). Some of the species are Alpine, and a few are found in the southern portions of South America and Africa. One of the most interesting wild species of this family is the shooting star or American cowslip, which grows abundantly on the prairies of the Eastern portion of the United States. Dr. Erasmus Darwin tells us that "the uncommon beauty of this flower occasioned Linnæus to give it the name Dodecatheon, signifiying the twelve heathen gods."

The family as a whole seems to have no economic value of importance and are of use to man simply to beautify his surroundings. Many of the species are very interesting to the scientific observer, for the structure of their flowers is such that they are peculiarly adapted for cross-fertilization. This character has made it possible for the floriculturist to produce many of the beautiful forms that are found in cultivation. The generic name of the primrose is Primula from the diminutive of the Latin word Primus, meaning first. The blossoming of the plants in the early spring led Linnæus to give them this name. It is said that their name was also applied, during the middle ages, to the European daisy (Bellis perennis).

This genus, Primula, is the type of the family and contains about one hundred and fifty species from which have been produced, both in nature and under cultivation, many hybrid forms, one investigator claiming to have found more than twenty in the Alps alone. The species are found distributed throughout the cooler regions of Europe and Asia and a few are natives of North America.

The common or English primrose (Primula vulgaris), by careful culture, produces a wonderful number of variations. The wild forms produce only yellow single flowers while from those under cultivation are developed numerous varieties, both single and double, which vary greatly in color – red, pink, white, purple, and many shades of each.

The cowslip primrose (Primula veris) is also a native of England. The flowers are yellow and nodding, and the plants emit a strong odor of anise.

The Himalaya Mountains are probably more rich in beautiful and interesting species and varieties than any other locality. Here is found the most beautiful of all the primroses, the delicate rose-colored form (Primula rosea.)

This species of primrose should not be confounded with the evening primrose, of which there are about twenty species, all American. The yellow flowers of the latter appear in the summer, opening at night, the thin and delicate petals withering the next day.

THE EGRET'S YOUNG

ELIZA WOODWORTHBeside a quiet stream the egrets build,And, friendly, crowd their nests of wattled sticksIn clustered trees, then patient keep unchilledTheir sea-blue eggs, and hear the first faint pricksAgainst the shells; and soon each wistful broodBeneath the mother's breast will doze or wake;And soon each parent pair will wing with foodFrom waded shallows brown, and marsh and brake.Between the flights they rest and tranquil lookFar down the glade from boughs or dusky nests,And see the deer that wend beside the brook,And partridge coveys, with their freckled breasts.Oh, lives like sunny hours! Oh, peaceful glade,Where glow the early flowers! What hunters stealAlong the stream, with rifles softly laidAt hand, while slips the skiff on noiseless keel?The shots half-blind the air with curling haze,And from his lookout perch the watcher falls;The nested mother lifts her head to gaze,And wounded, flutters down with hollow calls.And, bleeding prone, perchance she mourns her young,And hears, as far away, their startled cries,And longs for pleasant haunts she lived among,While in an anguished dream she slowly dies.From off the gentle head they cut the crest,They loose the wedding 1 plumes which veil the wingsAnd rend the beauty-tuft from out the breast —Then each a mangled body downward flings.The dimmed white forms strew all the blossomed ground,While clustered trees but bear the wailing young;Their plaintive little voices shrilling, soundFrom swiftly chilling nests, once gayly swung.Unfathered broods! In vain with hunger-callsThey grieve through woeful hours the helpless air;Unmothered nests! How cold the darkness fallsOn harmless, tender heads, uncovered there.They live the painful night and feebly stirAt dawn; with famine shine the golden eyes;They gape their mouths and seem to hear the whirOf mother-wings speed past through empty skies.And no more piteous sight the sun may seeThan where those parent birds lie dead; nor wakesA sadder tone than the forsaken pleaOf famished broods that o'er their silence breaks.Fainter and fainter sink the whispered cries,As wanes the life and creeps the deadly chill,Till wings are numb, and closed the hungry eyes,While droop the downy heads, and all is still.

SPONGES

A SPONGE when brought to the surface by the diver is a fleshy-looking substance covered with a firm skin whose openings appear and disappear at intervals. When the diver cuts it the interior looks like raw meat with numerous canals and cavities. The first thing they do is to remove the flesh, and this must be done at once, since otherwise putrefaction would set in, which would destroy the elasticity. This leaves merely the skeleton of the animal which has to be further cleansed before it is ready for the market.

The skeleton is nearly related in structure to silk, and this helped to settle the ancient dispute as to whether sponges were animal or vegetable. Their stationary life gave reason to the belief in their vegetable nature, while they multiply, like plants, by overgrowth and budding. They puzzled scientists for centuries, and one authority regarded them as worms' nests. In reality the sponge is a colony of little animals called polyps which occupy a sort of apartment house together, rearing families just as other animals do.

The surface of a sponge is covered with little holes, as you have observed, that are larger at the top than at the bottom, while the whole mass contains a system of channels. When the animal is alive water is kept flowing constantly through these channels by means of minute, hair-like appendages, which the little polyps agitate. The water thus drawn in brings with it the food.

The finest sponges come from Tripoli, and along the shores of the Mediterranean, the possessions of Turkey being the best field, the Spanish, French, and Italian coasts being, strange to say, devoid of them. The coarser kinds of sponges are found in the West Indies and off the Florida coast, none of the finest grade existing in American waters. The average value of Florida sponges is 80 cents a pound, while those from the Turkey coast are often worth as much as $50 a pound. There are many sponge beds along the coast of Florida, at well-protected places fenced in with natural fortifications and dams. They are carefully watched until reaching maturity, and are finer than those living wild in the sea.

After three years the sponges are ready for harvest. The choicest then, the full-grown ones, are pulled up, the others being left to reproduce until of larger size. Every year the value of a sponge farm increases, and enormous crops are yielded. It is easy to gather sponges here, for the water is clear and they are easily raised with a pole or tongs.

It is not so in Tripoli, however. There the work has to be done by divers, and as the fisheries have been so well worked, it is necessary for the divers to go deeper and deeper for them every year. Only the most desperate men are willing to undertake the task, notwithstanding they are paid ten times the usual wage paid to men in that country. Out of 600 divers employed, 150 to 200 die each season, either from asphyxiation, paralysis, or cuts from their knives. The diver in Tripoli seldom has diving-bells or suits such as are used in Europe and America. He goes down into the ocean, sometimes to the depth of 100 fathoms, taking with him a flat piece of stone of a triangular shape, with a hole drilled through one of its corners. A cord from the boat is attached to this stone and he uses it to guide him. Upon reaching the growing sponges he tears them off the rocks or cuts them with a sharp knife, places them under his arms, and then pulls at the rope, which gives the signal to the men in the boat to haul him up. The work is said to be done not so well by means of a diving-bell, the utmost care being necessary that the delicate organisms should not be torn. Sponges obtained by dragging are torn and sell for low prices. Those secured at such risk are the best and are used by surgeons in delicate operations. They do not grow as rapidly in the Mediterranean as in our water, an ordinary bath sponge, measuring about a foot in diameter, being ten years old. —E. K. M.

COMMON MINERALS AND VALUABLE ORES

IV. – COPPER AND LEAD ORESTHEO. F. BROOKINS, B. S

THE first metal that was employed by man is copper. It is probable that prehistoric man made use of the metal in its native condition only, as no knowledge of metallurgy would be essential in preparing it for use from that condition. Copper implements have been found in the lake dwellings of Switzerland, and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, is mentioned in the writings of Homeric times.

Cuprum, the origin of our English word copper, is derived from cyprium, which refers to the occurrence of the metal in especial abundance on the island of Cyprus, the main source of the metal during the epochs of early alchemy. In the Hebrew scriptures copper is termed Nehósheth (from nahásh, meaning to glisten) which is translated by Χαλκος and by Aes in the Vulgate. Later Aes cyprium was the special designation, which was finally shortened to cyprium, as indicated above. Thus we see that our present term represents in no sense the characteristic of the metal at first so noticeable.

Native copper scarcely needs a description. Its occurrence in the free state provides an interesting subject of conjecture. Briefly stated, the question of origin is whether the copper was set free by the decomposition of silicates or was in the form of a sulphide in the rock. The chief region of occurrence of native copper is the Lake Superior district. Here are found occasionally large masses of copper, which, strange as it seems, are practically valueless if too heavy to transport, since they cannot be divided without great difficulty. Of the world's total output of copper in 1897, 399,250 long tons 2, a single mine of the Lake Superior region, the famous Calumet and Hecla, produced 40,350 long tons.

Montana is now the first copper producing state in the United States. The state contains the largest mining camp in the world, located in the town of Butte. In 1897 the mines of Montana produced 102,800 long tons of copper. The ore chalcocite, sometimes called copper glance, has a metallic luster, often tarnished green or blue. It is commonly lead-gray and rather soft. Its streak is a blackish lead-gray, Chalcopyrite, a sulphide of copper and iron combined, has already been mentioned under "Iron Minerals" (.) When copper is much in predominance the color of the ore is golden yellow. The streak is dark green. The mineral is harder than chalcocite, but less hard than pyrite, being easily scratched with a knife. Both chalcocite and chalcopyrite frequently occur in silver-bearing rocks.