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In the 'Examining Hall' of the opium factory, 'the consistency of the crude opium as brought from the country in earthen pans is simply tested, either by the touch, or by thrusting a scoop into the mass. A sample from each pot (the pots being numbered and labelled) is further examined for consistency and purity in the chemical test room'.
Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are extracted. Opium is the source of many opiates, including morphine, thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine. The Latin botanical name means the 'sleep-bringing poppy', referring to the sedative properties of some of these opiates.
'In the Mixing Room, which otherwise looks like a somewhat spartan bathhouse, the contents of the earthen pans are thrown into vats and stirred with blind rakes until the whole mass becomes a homogeneous paste'.
In the 'Balling Room', where the opium paste is shaped into small spheres: 'Each ball-maker is furnished with a small table, a stool, and a brass cup to shape the ball in a certain quantity of opium and water and an allowance of poppy petals, in which the opium balls are rolled.<br/><br/> Every man is required to make a certain number of balls, all weighing alike. An expert workman will turn out upwards of a hundred balls a day'.
The finished opium balls are stored before shipping in the Stacking Room, where 'a number of boys are constantly engaged in stacking, turning, airing, and examining the balls. To clear them of mildew, moths or insects, they are rubbed with dried and crushed poppy petal dust'. Finally, the balls are transferred into cardboard boxes and loaded into ships bound for Calcutta and, ultimately, China.
After balling, the balls are taking to the Drying Room, where each is placed in an individual earthenware cup. The image shows men examining the balls, and puncturing with a sharp style those in which gas, arising from fermentation, may be forming'.