THE
Jniiatt JftMipl feclte, a TOifiif mmm m
Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, Jurisprudence, and the Collateral Sciences; nf
Iftebixal [Edited by
Jfitbxait mtir damjpatt.
C. Macnamara and K.
McLeod.]
CALCUTTA, MONDAY, JANUARY 1, 1872.
Vol-e^II. J
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.
j mX'sU e?f7'
Es' 18
As De Quiney truly observed,?" If you eat a good deal of it (opium), you must do what is disagreeable to any man of " regular habits?viz., die." But if a small quantity only is consumed, the effect is very different. In some of the lower animals, the voluntary muscles are thrown into a condition of clonic spasm, and in the human subject, without this excess of action being induced, the circulation is excited, the pulse becoming fuller, firmer and more frequent, and the body and extremities sensibly warmer. This state gives place, in about half an hour, to a feeling of slight fulness in the head, numbness, or rather languor, of the limbs, disinclination to exertion, insensibility to external impressions, with a succession of vague, fleeting, and most generally pleasurable mental sensations. If tlie first feeling of drowsiness is resisted (always presuming the dose is small, and adapted to the constitution of the person) an exactly opposite mental condition ensues, The faculties become more clear, the power of application is rendered more intense, the ideas are more brilliant, and even muscular "
OPIUM.
By Bajpootana
Suegeon "W. J. Moore,
Political
Dispensaries and
L.R.C.P.,
and
Superintendent General of Vaccination in Itajpootana.
Agency,
The evidence recently taken before tlie Home Commission on Indian finance does not, as a rule, interest the professional
points, however, on which much quesplace, whereupon the evidence of medical officers might have been given with considerable advantage. Bat scarcely a single Indian medical officer has been called upon for opinion or experience on any one of the multitudinous subjects coming before the committee. A medical man, who had been in China, was certainly examined on the opium
reader.
tioning
There
are some
has taken
on this and various other matters in which the of Indian medical officers would have rendered their evidence valuable, no such means of information was sought. Thus, a comparatively large portion of the time, both of witnesses and examiners, was taken up in an endeavour to ascertain tlie effects of opium on the human frame! the result being scarcely more than may be read in any work on materia
question;
but
experience
Sir Rutherford Alcock, for or on the action of drugs. instance, was asked what was the largest dose of opium a person might take with impunity ? whether a person habituated to the use of opium could refrain from the indulgence ? what was the effect of opium on the constitution ? &c., &c. Similar medica
also instituted from the late editor of the Friend from Dr. Winchester, the only medical officer examined at all on the subject. Judging from the answers afforded to the questions proposed,
enquiries were of India ; and
it would not appear that any especial attention had been paid the gentlemen examined to the physiological action or effects of opium. Indeed, there can be few (if any) officials in authority,
by
either in India
or China, having, or who could be reasonably expected to possess, more than a very general impression regarding the subject. Yet, in many districts in India, the use of opium is as common as in China itself. On the other hand, there are numerous medical officers, who, from personal experience and observation, of an interesting physiological point, are well qualified to give valuable and decided opinions. In order to evoke such opinions, and as this is a matter affecting not only the pecuniary interests of the State, but in some degree also the public health, a few lines devoted to the consideration of the constitutional, as distinguished from the therapeutical effects of the juice of the papaver somniferum, may not be altogether
out of
place.
movement is facilitated. The person under such influence is forced, as it were, to do something. He cannot remain idle. He must talk, or joke, or work, or lay plans for the future. In what particular manner opium will affect different persons, is, however, not certain. While one becomes more capable for his ordinary avocations, another appears impelled to pursue some line of action foreign to his usual pursuits ; a variation which
only be explained by peculiarities of constitution, or idiosyncrasy, showing more prominently under the opium excitation ; cr, perhaps, to accidental effort of volition ? There are, however, a minority in whom peculiar idiosyncrasy or temperament renders opium less satisfactory in its action. In these cases, headache, restlessness, disagreeable reverie, feverishness, are the primary results?followed a3 secondary effects by thirst, headache and general malaise for several days. It is in such constitutions that opium given medicinally during sickness, induces anything rather than a semblance of "the golden slumbers of repose." In the first class, or in the majority of persons taking opium in moderate quantity, 110 perceptible after results occur. If any unpleasant condition is observable, either the dose consumed has been too large, or there is some anti-opium peculiarity in the constitution, or some other stimulant has interfered with, or disturbed the opium ecstasy, for opium is a jealous mistress, and does not brook division of
can
favours.
Excepting in the peculiar idiosyncrasy mentioned, there would if any, deleterious action on the human system appear to be little, from a moderate dose of opium ; and as regards such idiosyncrasies, we have the same in relation to ipecacuanha, to quinine, to
belladonna, to the majority of the n\ost powerful drugs of pharmacopoeia. Neither is it evidenced that the moderate
the
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE. of opium, even when continued, induces any decided deleterious result. On the contrary, many have borne witness to the reverse. Thus, Dr. Winchester, in his evidence before the Finance Commission, speaks of its use being beneficial in a malarious country like China. Dr. Cameron, in his account of Singapoor, states that opium does no particular harm in moderation ;
use
not
so
alcohol. In Annals, No. XXI),
much
(Indian
as
article on " Malarious Fevers," I remarked?" I have frequently
an
observed the confirmed opium-eater escape fever when others This was especially noted during the autumn ?were attacked. " Many natives, morefollowing the heavy rains of 1863
believe opium will not only preserve them from fever, but also from some other maladies. The drug has, indeed, long been regarded as a remedial agent second only to quinine, and therefore a prophylactic action might be presumed. Besides, like alcohol, preventing waste of tissue, it also exerts its well-known over,
stimulating or sedative action on the nerves, and protends to prevent malarious poison taking effect in these three several ways ;?and so 011 might be quoted the opinions of various medical officers of experience, while among non-profesdirect
bably
sional observers, we have Mr. Laing, who in his budget statement for 1862-63, observes :?" Opium is neither very much better, nor very much worse than ginPrichard, who in The Administration of India, remarks :?" I have no doubt in my own mind, that if a comparative statement of the mischievous results
following the consumption of opium and of that of spirituous liquors were drawn up, the conclusion would be very much in favour of the former." De Quincy asserts the moderate use of opium to be less injurious than alcohol. Wine," he disorders the mental faculties ; opium on the says, contrary, if "
"
taken in
a
proper manner, introduces among them the most
exquisite order, legislation and harmony. Wine robs a man of his self-possession; opium sustains and reinforces it. Wine unsettles the judgment, and gives a preternatural brightness and a vivid exaltation to the contempts, and the admirations, to the loves and hatreds of the drinker; opium, on the contrary, In communicates serenity and equipoise to the faculties." other words, an opium-eater never passes through the stages of inebriety?the friendly, the argumentative, the captious, the
sentimental, the quarrelsome, the maudlin affectionate, the deadly drunk. The effects of a moderate dose that sort of of opium stop short at the first stage of inebriety; vital warmth being given to the temper and moral feelings, which is approved by the judgment, and which would probably always accompany a bodily constitution of primeval and antediluvian health" (De Quince j). Even those inveighing most bitterly against the practice of opium-smoking or opium-eating, must, if they study the subject, admit that the moderate use of opium is not practically injurious. In many parts of India, notably in the more sandy districts of Eajpootana, opium-eating, opiumsmoking, or drinking the drug in the shape of" ummal pawnee," is a very common practice, but those so indulging are not ordinarily rendered more rapidly aged and decrepid, either mentally or physically, than their compeers who indulge moderately in alcoholic liquors. Indeed, foot Kossids or camel Kossids, who travel enormous distances without halting, are often enabled to do so simply from the use of opium. The question whether the world would not be better without opium, is one altogether different to the enquiry regarding the relative merits or injuri1 here are thousands who ous influences of opium and alcohol. would banish alcohol from the face of the globe, but it never communicative,
the
"
banished. Neither would it appear advisable that either opium or alcohol should cease to exist, simply because the minority who think proper to use these agents, not only use will be
so
them but abuse them. If we take the description of the effects of opium as given by of the most urgent agitators against the use of the drug, viz., Lin Le, the author of the History of the Tiping Rebellion, we one
find what he writes
equally applicable
to
the habitues of the
[January
I, 1872.
Lin Le states :?" lsJ, it exhausts the youth who smoke will hasten the termination of their years: 2nd, it wastes the flesh and blood ; the faces of the weak who smoke become pallid and cadaverous : 3rd, it dissipates every kind of property ; 4th, it renders
London animal
gin palaces. spirits; hence
the
the person ill-favoured; mucus flows from his nostrils and tears from his eyes: 5th, it promotes obscenity : &th, it discovers secrets : 7th, it violates laws: 8th, it attacks vitals: 9th, it destroys life. "When the smoker has pawned everything in his possession, he will pawn his wife, and sell his
And in such are the inevitable consequences." accordance with the national tendency of Englishmen to overlook their own failings, while condemning the sins of others, we find the daily consumers of alcoholic drinks?
daughters;
"
Compound the sins they are inclined to By d g those they have no mind to." For
example, many who would treat the exhibitions of a gin palace or a Calcutta liquor den quite as a matter of course, &re scandalized by the lamented Dickens' description of opium-smoking in the Mystery of Edwin Drood." London
"
The fact cannot be denied that all nations have used some kind of stimulating or narcotic agent. In the earliest times, "Noah began to be a husbandman and planted a vineyard." The suppers of Lucullus, given in the Apollo" chambers, were
not without the juice of the grape. The wild orgies of Juvenal and Perseus, equally with Thackery's little dinner at " Tim-
were not destitute of the stimulating ration. The wild natives of the South Sea Islands not only ferment the juice of the cocoa-nut, but have their ava or /cava made by chewing the root of this plant (macropiper methysticum), ejecting the
min's,"
saliva into a bowl and fermenting it! A drink prepared in similar manner is the South American piivarri, which is said to be prepared by first chewing a sufficient quantity of cake made of "cassava" meal, and then putting the masticated material in a bowl with water, where it is left to ferment for some days. The savage denizens of the icy region approaching the poles, notwithstanding the possession of what Shakespeare would have termed " unbounded stomachs" for blubbfer and fat, have still their
stimulating drink; unpalateabie though it may be to fastidious taste of dwellers in temperate climes. The Englishman drinks gin, or port, or porter (happily a good many now claret); the German takes beer ; the Frenchman absinthe, the Scotchman " whusky" (over which he would rather throttle the
more
than
water.)
The nomadic tribes of the Central Asia steppes, the wanderers on the Kirghes slopes, finding, like the Indian Kossids opium handy to pack and carry, take this form of stimulant. So do
the Turks, the Slavons, the Albanians, not a few Greeks, cum multies aliis : although, perhaps, not for the same reason. So do the Malays, and so do the Chinese, not only in China but in California, and other distant parts of the world; where this agent, presumed so utterly destructive of national energy, has not prevented the Chinese penetrating. Possibly some peculiar national constitutional condition aids facility of acquisition in deciding the particular form of (if such term be allowed) stimulo-narcotic chosen. As Prichard observes,?"the Chinese, whose greatest deficiency, as shown by the whole history, religion and literature of the race, is in the imaginative faculties, resort to that which stimulates the imagination, and their sluggish brains see visions and dream dreams."
makes
always brought forward by those condemnengine in Satan's hands for the destruction of the Chinese empire," are the difficulty of leaving off the habit when once commenced, and the increasing quantity of the drug required to produce effect. And both these assertions may be at once admitted. Few persons who commence taking opium There is an opium cravever willingly leave of? the practice. ing, as well as a spirit craving. As there are persons who only drink brandy on two occasions, viz., when they have goose for Two arguments
ing opium
as an
"
Jantta/iif 1,
ON TETANUS.?BY C. MACNAMARA.
1872.]
dinner, and when they don't, so there are others who never take opium except when they might do so without injury to themselves, and when they might not do so. But this is the abuse, This is not not the moderate use of the agent. taking, as St. Paul advised, a little wine for the stomach's sake." It is rather following the example of the Rev. R. Barham's boon companions, who, their host having been obliged to retire to bed sick, sat drinking till morning. When this ''good old sort" of clerical gentleman came down in the morning, he asked?" John, what time did they go last night?"?"Go!" replied Johu, "go ! tbey are not gone yet; they have just rung for another bottle !" And this, whatever may have been thought in former days when it was the fashion to get drunk, would now be regarded as the abuse of good things. There would appear, however, no greater difficulty in refraining from opium than from spirits. There are very large numbers of the better classes both in China, in India, in Turkey and in other countries, who only take opium in moderate quantities. As with spirit drinking, so with opium; it is among the lower classes where, unfortunately, intemperance prevails. Want, misery, a low moral constitution, absence of "
to the abuse of the one, as of the other. many of the better classes in this country, as in who take opium moderately without any perceptible
education, all tend There
are
others, injury.
The experience, however, derived from Indian jails shows that opium-eaters or opium-smokers may be deprived of their accustomed indulgence without any of those deadly results,
which were at one time presumed would be the consequence. It may be advisable in the cases of weak, debilitated persons accustomed to the drug, that the process be conducted gradually ; but that the stimulant may be withdrawn without fatal injury, there is
evidence.
ample quantity
by the opium-eater depends partly on idiosyncrasy or susceptibility to the action of the drug and partly on habituation to its use. There is no doubt, however, that many in the habit of using opium eventually consume large quantities. But other powerful or poisonThe
the constitution
taken
or
agents may also be taken in enormous doses. Alcohol is familiar illustration. Arsenic, again, is eaten by the Styrians in proportions sufficient to kill fifty men. And similarly with opium. Iu some diseases for instance, effect only has been considered in the administration of the remedy, of which a tolerance in the system was established. A like tolerance appears ous
a
arise from constant use. As an instance of constitutional towards opium, the case mentioned by Dr. Christison may be quoted of a person, quite unaccustomed to its use, taking 450 drops of laudanum without any other effect, than some headache and constipation ; and whose son, at the age of six, took sixty minims of muriate of morphia to
insensibility
Confirmed opium-eaters have without any apparent result. been known to take three ounces in a day; in one instance nine ounces was the dose. De Quincy gave a piece of opium " sufficient to kill some to a Malay in the streets of London half dozen
dragoons together
with their
horses,"
and
thought
the Malay would enjoy himself for six months to come. But the Malay devoured it at once, much to the astonishment and fright of the donor, whose first impression was to violate the laws of the forcible " exhibition" of an emetic. But all such abuse of the drug cannot be regarded as the legitimate " use; is very different to the occasional glass of laudanum
hospitality by
negus warm, with be taken, if not
without," according to taste, which always with benefit, certainly without
or
may
any evil results. The conclusion I arrive at after lengthened and attentive observation is:? ls?.?That opium in moderation produces no decided or even
appreciable
appreciable ill
effect.
2ndly.?That
the term
small amount taken
'
moderation* may even include a very that amount differing in proportion
daily;
peculiar constitution, idiosyncrasy, occupation use of the drug. Zrdly.?That in many instances and situations, the use of opium is actually beneficial, viz., when food is not obtainable, when exposed in malarious localities, previous to or after great fatigue, according
to
the
and habituation to the
and, of course, in many diseases.
4thly.?That the excessive use of opium is often followed by all the evils which have been ascribed to it by sensational writers on the subject; dyspepsia, premature senility and decrepitude, diarrhoea and dysentery being the chain of ailments induced. But on the other hand, very many taking opium in large quantities live'to an advanced age without any such suffering. bthly.?That a person possessing ordinary intellect and strength of character may overcome opium craving, at least as readily as dipsomania is conquered. It would, therefore, appear that selling opium to the Chinese is not that immoral procedure so frequently pictured in sensational'articles. Traders surely cannot be fairly charged with the results of the abuse by other people of the articles they trade in! As reasonably might the man who poisons his friend with arsenic, lay the blame on the chemist manufacturing, or the druggist selling the drug. When men stumble over a stone, they are apt to blame the stone instead of their own carelessness; when they fall into a hole, they often anathematize the hole instead of their own stupidity. In some such manner does the Celestial Emperor act, when cursing opium traders on. account of the foolish excesses of his subjects. As a recent writer truly observed,?" it may be undignified for an imperial
Government to add to its revenue by the sale of there can be nothing criminal in cultivating or
a
drug, but
encouraging
the
cultivation of one of the most valuable natural products of the soil, or the manufacture of one of the best gifts of nature to the sons of
toil,
of sorrow, and of
pain."
Jniiatt JftMipl feclte, a TOifiif mmm m
Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, Jurisprudence, and the Collateral Sciences; nf
Iftebixal [Edited by
Jfitbxait mtir damjpatt.
C. Macnamara and K.
McLeod.]
CALCUTTA, MONDAY, JANUARY 1, 1872.
Vol-e^II. J
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.
j mX'sU e?f7'
Es' 18
As De Quiney truly observed,?" If you eat a good deal of it (opium), you must do what is disagreeable to any man of " regular habits?viz., die." But if a small quantity only is consumed, the effect is very different. In some of the lower animals, the voluntary muscles are thrown into a condition of clonic spasm, and in the human subject, without this excess of action being induced, the circulation is excited, the pulse becoming fuller, firmer and more frequent, and the body and extremities sensibly warmer. This state gives place, in about half an hour, to a feeling of slight fulness in the head, numbness, or rather languor, of the limbs, disinclination to exertion, insensibility to external impressions, with a succession of vague, fleeting, and most generally pleasurable mental sensations. If tlie first feeling of drowsiness is resisted (always presuming the dose is small, and adapted to the constitution of the person) an exactly opposite mental condition ensues, The faculties become more clear, the power of application is rendered more intense, the ideas are more brilliant, and even muscular "
OPIUM.
By Bajpootana
Suegeon "W. J. Moore,
Political
Dispensaries and
L.R.C.P.,
and
Superintendent General of Vaccination in Itajpootana.
Agency,
The evidence recently taken before tlie Home Commission on Indian finance does not, as a rule, interest the professional
points, however, on which much quesplace, whereupon the evidence of medical officers might have been given with considerable advantage. Bat scarcely a single Indian medical officer has been called upon for opinion or experience on any one of the multitudinous subjects coming before the committee. A medical man, who had been in China, was certainly examined on the opium
reader.
tioning
There
are some
has taken
on this and various other matters in which the of Indian medical officers would have rendered their evidence valuable, no such means of information was sought. Thus, a comparatively large portion of the time, both of witnesses and examiners, was taken up in an endeavour to ascertain tlie effects of opium on the human frame! the result being scarcely more than may be read in any work on materia
question;
but
experience
Sir Rutherford Alcock, for or on the action of drugs. instance, was asked what was the largest dose of opium a person might take with impunity ? whether a person habituated to the use of opium could refrain from the indulgence ? what was the effect of opium on the constitution ? &c., &c. Similar medica
also instituted from the late editor of the Friend from Dr. Winchester, the only medical officer examined at all on the subject. Judging from the answers afforded to the questions proposed,
enquiries were of India ; and
it would not appear that any especial attention had been paid the gentlemen examined to the physiological action or effects of opium. Indeed, there can be few (if any) officials in authority,
by
either in India
or China, having, or who could be reasonably expected to possess, more than a very general impression regarding the subject. Yet, in many districts in India, the use of opium is as common as in China itself. On the other hand, there are numerous medical officers, who, from personal experience and observation, of an interesting physiological point, are well qualified to give valuable and decided opinions. In order to evoke such opinions, and as this is a matter affecting not only the pecuniary interests of the State, but in some degree also the public health, a few lines devoted to the consideration of the constitutional, as distinguished from the therapeutical effects of the juice of the papaver somniferum, may not be altogether
out of
place.
movement is facilitated. The person under such influence is forced, as it were, to do something. He cannot remain idle. He must talk, or joke, or work, or lay plans for the future. In what particular manner opium will affect different persons, is, however, not certain. While one becomes more capable for his ordinary avocations, another appears impelled to pursue some line of action foreign to his usual pursuits ; a variation which
only be explained by peculiarities of constitution, or idiosyncrasy, showing more prominently under the opium excitation ; cr, perhaps, to accidental effort of volition ? There are, however, a minority in whom peculiar idiosyncrasy or temperament renders opium less satisfactory in its action. In these cases, headache, restlessness, disagreeable reverie, feverishness, are the primary results?followed a3 secondary effects by thirst, headache and general malaise for several days. It is in such constitutions that opium given medicinally during sickness, induces anything rather than a semblance of "the golden slumbers of repose." In the first class, or in the majority of persons taking opium in moderate quantity, 110 perceptible after results occur. If any unpleasant condition is observable, either the dose consumed has been too large, or there is some anti-opium peculiarity in the constitution, or some other stimulant has interfered with, or disturbed the opium ecstasy, for opium is a jealous mistress, and does not brook division of
can
favours.
Excepting in the peculiar idiosyncrasy mentioned, there would if any, deleterious action on the human system appear to be little, from a moderate dose of opium ; and as regards such idiosyncrasies, we have the same in relation to ipecacuanha, to quinine, to
belladonna, to the majority of the n\ost powerful drugs of pharmacopoeia. Neither is it evidenced that the moderate
the
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE. of opium, even when continued, induces any decided deleterious result. On the contrary, many have borne witness to the reverse. Thus, Dr. Winchester, in his evidence before the Finance Commission, speaks of its use being beneficial in a malarious country like China. Dr. Cameron, in his account of Singapoor, states that opium does no particular harm in moderation ;
use
not
so
alcohol. In Annals, No. XXI),
much
(Indian
as
article on " Malarious Fevers," I remarked?" I have frequently
an
observed the confirmed opium-eater escape fever when others This was especially noted during the autumn ?were attacked. " Many natives, morefollowing the heavy rains of 1863
believe opium will not only preserve them from fever, but also from some other maladies. The drug has, indeed, long been regarded as a remedial agent second only to quinine, and therefore a prophylactic action might be presumed. Besides, like alcohol, preventing waste of tissue, it also exerts its well-known over,
stimulating or sedative action on the nerves, and protends to prevent malarious poison taking effect in these three several ways ;?and so 011 might be quoted the opinions of various medical officers of experience, while among non-profesdirect
bably
sional observers, we have Mr. Laing, who in his budget statement for 1862-63, observes :?" Opium is neither very much better, nor very much worse than ginPrichard, who in The Administration of India, remarks :?" I have no doubt in my own mind, that if a comparative statement of the mischievous results
following the consumption of opium and of that of spirituous liquors were drawn up, the conclusion would be very much in favour of the former." De Quincy asserts the moderate use of opium to be less injurious than alcohol. Wine," he disorders the mental faculties ; opium on the says, contrary, if "
"
taken in
a
proper manner, introduces among them the most
exquisite order, legislation and harmony. Wine robs a man of his self-possession; opium sustains and reinforces it. Wine unsettles the judgment, and gives a preternatural brightness and a vivid exaltation to the contempts, and the admirations, to the loves and hatreds of the drinker; opium, on the contrary, In communicates serenity and equipoise to the faculties." other words, an opium-eater never passes through the stages of inebriety?the friendly, the argumentative, the captious, the
sentimental, the quarrelsome, the maudlin affectionate, the deadly drunk. The effects of a moderate dose that sort of of opium stop short at the first stage of inebriety; vital warmth being given to the temper and moral feelings, which is approved by the judgment, and which would probably always accompany a bodily constitution of primeval and antediluvian health" (De Quince j). Even those inveighing most bitterly against the practice of opium-smoking or opium-eating, must, if they study the subject, admit that the moderate use of opium is not practically injurious. In many parts of India, notably in the more sandy districts of Eajpootana, opium-eating, opiumsmoking, or drinking the drug in the shape of" ummal pawnee," is a very common practice, but those so indulging are not ordinarily rendered more rapidly aged and decrepid, either mentally or physically, than their compeers who indulge moderately in alcoholic liquors. Indeed, foot Kossids or camel Kossids, who travel enormous distances without halting, are often enabled to do so simply from the use of opium. The question whether the world would not be better without opium, is one altogether different to the enquiry regarding the relative merits or injuri1 here are thousands who ous influences of opium and alcohol. would banish alcohol from the face of the globe, but it never communicative,
the
"
banished. Neither would it appear advisable that either opium or alcohol should cease to exist, simply because the minority who think proper to use these agents, not only use will be
so
them but abuse them. If we take the description of the effects of opium as given by of the most urgent agitators against the use of the drug, viz., Lin Le, the author of the History of the Tiping Rebellion, we one
find what he writes
equally applicable
to
the habitues of the
[January
I, 1872.
Lin Le states :?" lsJ, it exhausts the youth who smoke will hasten the termination of their years: 2nd, it wastes the flesh and blood ; the faces of the weak who smoke become pallid and cadaverous : 3rd, it dissipates every kind of property ; 4th, it renders
London animal
gin palaces. spirits; hence
the
the person ill-favoured; mucus flows from his nostrils and tears from his eyes: 5th, it promotes obscenity : &th, it discovers secrets : 7th, it violates laws: 8th, it attacks vitals: 9th, it destroys life. "When the smoker has pawned everything in his possession, he will pawn his wife, and sell his
And in such are the inevitable consequences." accordance with the national tendency of Englishmen to overlook their own failings, while condemning the sins of others, we find the daily consumers of alcoholic drinks?
daughters;
"
Compound the sins they are inclined to By d g those they have no mind to." For
example, many who would treat the exhibitions of a gin palace or a Calcutta liquor den quite as a matter of course, &re scandalized by the lamented Dickens' description of opium-smoking in the Mystery of Edwin Drood." London
"
The fact cannot be denied that all nations have used some kind of stimulating or narcotic agent. In the earliest times, "Noah began to be a husbandman and planted a vineyard." The suppers of Lucullus, given in the Apollo" chambers, were
not without the juice of the grape. The wild orgies of Juvenal and Perseus, equally with Thackery's little dinner at " Tim-
were not destitute of the stimulating ration. The wild natives of the South Sea Islands not only ferment the juice of the cocoa-nut, but have their ava or /cava made by chewing the root of this plant (macropiper methysticum), ejecting the
min's,"
saliva into a bowl and fermenting it! A drink prepared in similar manner is the South American piivarri, which is said to be prepared by first chewing a sufficient quantity of cake made of "cassava" meal, and then putting the masticated material in a bowl with water, where it is left to ferment for some days. The savage denizens of the icy region approaching the poles, notwithstanding the possession of what Shakespeare would have termed " unbounded stomachs" for blubbfer and fat, have still their
stimulating drink; unpalateabie though it may be to fastidious taste of dwellers in temperate climes. The Englishman drinks gin, or port, or porter (happily a good many now claret); the German takes beer ; the Frenchman absinthe, the Scotchman " whusky" (over which he would rather throttle the
more
than
water.)
The nomadic tribes of the Central Asia steppes, the wanderers on the Kirghes slopes, finding, like the Indian Kossids opium handy to pack and carry, take this form of stimulant. So do
the Turks, the Slavons, the Albanians, not a few Greeks, cum multies aliis : although, perhaps, not for the same reason. So do the Malays, and so do the Chinese, not only in China but in California, and other distant parts of the world; where this agent, presumed so utterly destructive of national energy, has not prevented the Chinese penetrating. Possibly some peculiar national constitutional condition aids facility of acquisition in deciding the particular form of (if such term be allowed) stimulo-narcotic chosen. As Prichard observes,?"the Chinese, whose greatest deficiency, as shown by the whole history, religion and literature of the race, is in the imaginative faculties, resort to that which stimulates the imagination, and their sluggish brains see visions and dream dreams."
makes
always brought forward by those condemnengine in Satan's hands for the destruction of the Chinese empire," are the difficulty of leaving off the habit when once commenced, and the increasing quantity of the drug required to produce effect. And both these assertions may be at once admitted. Few persons who commence taking opium There is an opium cravever willingly leave of? the practice. ing, as well as a spirit craving. As there are persons who only drink brandy on two occasions, viz., when they have goose for Two arguments
ing opium
as an
"
Jantta/iif 1,
ON TETANUS.?BY C. MACNAMARA.
1872.]
dinner, and when they don't, so there are others who never take opium except when they might do so without injury to themselves, and when they might not do so. But this is the abuse, This is not not the moderate use of the agent. taking, as St. Paul advised, a little wine for the stomach's sake." It is rather following the example of the Rev. R. Barham's boon companions, who, their host having been obliged to retire to bed sick, sat drinking till morning. When this ''good old sort" of clerical gentleman came down in the morning, he asked?" John, what time did they go last night?"?"Go!" replied Johu, "go ! tbey are not gone yet; they have just rung for another bottle !" And this, whatever may have been thought in former days when it was the fashion to get drunk, would now be regarded as the abuse of good things. There would appear, however, no greater difficulty in refraining from opium than from spirits. There are very large numbers of the better classes both in China, in India, in Turkey and in other countries, who only take opium in moderate quantities. As with spirit drinking, so with opium; it is among the lower classes where, unfortunately, intemperance prevails. Want, misery, a low moral constitution, absence of "
to the abuse of the one, as of the other. many of the better classes in this country, as in who take opium moderately without any perceptible
education, all tend There
are
others, injury.
The experience, however, derived from Indian jails shows that opium-eaters or opium-smokers may be deprived of their accustomed indulgence without any of those deadly results,
which were at one time presumed would be the consequence. It may be advisable in the cases of weak, debilitated persons accustomed to the drug, that the process be conducted gradually ; but that the stimulant may be withdrawn without fatal injury, there is
evidence.
ample quantity
by the opium-eater depends partly on idiosyncrasy or susceptibility to the action of the drug and partly on habituation to its use. There is no doubt, however, that many in the habit of using opium eventually consume large quantities. But other powerful or poisonThe
the constitution
taken
or
agents may also be taken in enormous doses. Alcohol is familiar illustration. Arsenic, again, is eaten by the Styrians in proportions sufficient to kill fifty men. And similarly with opium. Iu some diseases for instance, effect only has been considered in the administration of the remedy, of which a tolerance in the system was established. A like tolerance appears ous
a
arise from constant use. As an instance of constitutional towards opium, the case mentioned by Dr. Christison may be quoted of a person, quite unaccustomed to its use, taking 450 drops of laudanum without any other effect, than some headache and constipation ; and whose son, at the age of six, took sixty minims of muriate of morphia to
insensibility
Confirmed opium-eaters have without any apparent result. been known to take three ounces in a day; in one instance nine ounces was the dose. De Quincy gave a piece of opium " sufficient to kill some to a Malay in the streets of London half dozen
dragoons together
with their
horses,"
and
thought
the Malay would enjoy himself for six months to come. But the Malay devoured it at once, much to the astonishment and fright of the donor, whose first impression was to violate the laws of the forcible " exhibition" of an emetic. But all such abuse of the drug cannot be regarded as the legitimate " use; is very different to the occasional glass of laudanum
hospitality by
negus warm, with be taken, if not
without," according to taste, which always with benefit, certainly without
or
may
any evil results. The conclusion I arrive at after lengthened and attentive observation is:? ls?.?That opium in moderation produces no decided or even
appreciable
appreciable ill
effect.
2ndly.?That
the term
small amount taken
'
moderation* may even include a very that amount differing in proportion
daily;
peculiar constitution, idiosyncrasy, occupation use of the drug. Zrdly.?That in many instances and situations, the use of opium is actually beneficial, viz., when food is not obtainable, when exposed in malarious localities, previous to or after great fatigue, according
to
the
and habituation to the
and, of course, in many diseases.
4thly.?That the excessive use of opium is often followed by all the evils which have been ascribed to it by sensational writers on the subject; dyspepsia, premature senility and decrepitude, diarrhoea and dysentery being the chain of ailments induced. But on the other hand, very many taking opium in large quantities live'to an advanced age without any such suffering. bthly.?That a person possessing ordinary intellect and strength of character may overcome opium craving, at least as readily as dipsomania is conquered. It would, therefore, appear that selling opium to the Chinese is not that immoral procedure so frequently pictured in sensational'articles. Traders surely cannot be fairly charged with the results of the abuse by other people of the articles they trade in! As reasonably might the man who poisons his friend with arsenic, lay the blame on the chemist manufacturing, or the druggist selling the drug. When men stumble over a stone, they are apt to blame the stone instead of their own carelessness; when they fall into a hole, they often anathematize the hole instead of their own stupidity. In some such manner does the Celestial Emperor act, when cursing opium traders on. account of the foolish excesses of his subjects. As a recent writer truly observed,?" it may be undignified for an imperial
Government to add to its revenue by the sale of there can be nothing criminal in cultivating or
a
drug, but
encouraging
the
cultivation of one of the most valuable natural products of the soil, or the manufacture of one of the best gifts of nature to the sons of
toil,
of sorrow, and of
pain."
