The Differentiation of Crude Excise Opium

A question of medico-legal interest occasionally occurs in Civil Surgeons' work, when a sample of opium is submitted by the police, or Magistrate for favour of an opinion as to whether it is crude opium or Government excise opium. Thisopinion is asked for as it is illegal to sell crude opium. Text-books on medical jurisprudence seem to o-ive no information on the point, and as it is a question on which Civil Surgeons might be called to <nve evidence, I detail below a few points by whfch a differentiation may be made. First, it is necessary to say that crude opium may be manipulated or unmanipulated. It is thelattei variety which is generally met with. Manipulation for illicit purposes is occasionally done to make crude opium resemble excise opium, and when this is the case, it is almost impossible by naked eye appearance to distinguish them. In these doubtful cases, when the sample resembles excise opium, an expert opinion is necessary, and the sample should be sent to the Superintendent of the Opium Factory at Ghazipur or Patna, where chemical and microscopical tests can be made which very clearly show the difference. Unmanipulated crude opium is, however, the variety most frequently sent up for opinion, it differs from excise opium in the following points:? (1) Excise opium has a darker colour than crude opium from exposure to the sun in the process of manufacture. (2) Excise opium has a slightly burnt smell which is lacking in crude opium. (3) Excise opium, when broken across presents at the fractured surfaces a somewhat shiny appearance, and the suifaces seem to adlieie by fine threads. Unmanipulated crude opium has on fracture a dull wax-like appearance, and no threads seem to pass between the surfaces. (4) Excise opium has externally a more shiny appearance than unmanipulated crude opium, owing to the mixture of slight quantities of poppy oil with the former.