Unless Opium were a resinous Body, it could not retain its volatile Power, to bear transporting in the Form it does, much less endure to be kept in the Shops with little Loss. The burning of it proves the Truth of this Assertion, and if it were a mucous Gum, or viscous juice, it would not flow by Heat, nor import its Strength to a spirituous, but to an aqueous Menstruum, after the Manner of Gum Arabic. It may be asked here, in Opposition to this, how the Extract from Opium is made, in which Process the Opium, according to the College, is ordered to be dissolved in Water? In Answer to it, I presume, the Water is only an Agent, that prevents the Adustion of the Parts so exposed to intense Heat, which Menstruum, being partly imbibed by the Impurities of the Drug, causes a sufficient Separation, for the resinous Parts to become soft enough to be pressed through a Bolter; by such Management, the fæcæs are entirely separated from the purer Parts, and the Water, though used most cautiously, and in as sparing a Quantity as possible, by the necessary Evaporation, in order to reduce the pure Body to the former Substance, loses more than it gains; and after all, in my Opinion, is not so much to be depended upon, or has so mild an Effect as good Opium; notwithstanding Doctor _Jones_'s Opinion to the to the contrary, and his partial Fondness, in giving the Name _Panacea_ to his Solution in Water. The College of Physicians have ordered only two Preparations that retain the Name of Opium, wisely considering, that those of the Ancients were so numerous, and so variously combined with other Substances, under the Title of Correctors, that the Bulk in administering them was greatly encreased, and an Inconvenience arose oftentimes to the Patient, who not being able to take the Quantity of the Opiate required, thereby rendered the Effect frequently precarious. One Preparation, directed by them, is by Solution, as mentioned above, merely to purify it from heterogeneous Particles, and thence called _Extractum Thebaicum_, or Extract of Opium; the other a Tincture or Re-Solution of that Extract, to be preserved in a fluid State with Wine, in the Proportion of two Ounces to one Pound, with an Addition of Aromatics. This last Preparation, which is in more general Use than the Extract, is commonly known by the Name of _Laudanum_; though that Epithet was formerly used by Authors for various Preparations of the Drug, with the Appendage of Opiatum, Tartarizatum, _&c._ to characterise their Differences. I shall not enlarge upon Opium in a physical Sense, further than is necessary to shew the poisonous Effects of it in over-large Doses, and as such, I confine myself to the Sort within every one's Knowledge, and to be commonly met with in the Shops.