THE USE OF NARCOTICS. 61 1 



THE USE OF NARCOTICS. 



THE indulgence in narcotics something to dull, stupefy, and soothe 

 the nervous system is a predominant human Aveakness. Nature 

 has been ransacked for narcotics. Tobacco, opium, betel-nut, Indian 

 hemp, even some kinds of fungi, are employed for the desired object. 

 When tobacco was first introduced into Europe, its use was nearly 

 everywhere looked upon with dislike by the authorities. The efforts 

 that were made to suppress it amounted to nothing less than persecu- 

 tion, and their want of success furnishes a curious illustration of the 

 uselessness of legislative interference with the individual's legitimate 

 freedom of action. It serves also to illustrate in some measure the 

 strong hold which the taste for narcotics obtains over the mind, es- 

 pecially as tobacco is one of the mildest narcotics in use. Among our- 

 selves, not to mention King James's well-known " Counterblast," many 

 petty restrictions were laid on the sale of tobacco during that mon- 

 arch's reign, and the import duty was raised from twoj^ence to six 

 shillings and tenpence a pound. In England and elsewhere, remon- 

 strance and penalties were equally unavailing. Tobacco made its way 

 steadily into favor, and is believed to be now in use among not less 

 than 800,000,000 of the human race. 



Measures of a severe nature have been tried in China to check the 

 use of opium, and have been quite as unsuccessful. However apathetic 

 the Chinese may be in respect to most things, they will not submit to 

 the withdrawal of their favorite narcotic. But in case of so danger- 

 ous a poison, some restrictions are as much needed as they are on the 

 sale of spirituous liquors among ourselves ; for the effects of habitual 

 excess are not less deplorable than those of habitual drunkenness. 

 Of forty prisoners confined in the House of Correction at Singapore, 

 thirty-five were found to use opium ; and of these, seventeen, who 

 had been in receipt of eighteen shillings a month as wages, spent 

 twenty-four shillings for opium, the difference being obtained by theft. 

 From a sanitary point of view, the results are equally sad. The 

 confirmed opium-eater in the East seldom lives beyond the age of 

 forty, and may be recognized at a glance by his trembling steps and 

 curved spine, his sunken, glassy eyes and sallow, withered features. 

 The muscles, too, of his neck and fingers often become contracted. 

 Yet incurring even this penalty will enable him to indulge his vice 

 only for a certain length of time. Unlike the healthy enjoyment which 

 we derive from our appetite of hunger, and which Nature herself re- 

 news periodically, the enjoyment of the opium-eater gradually dimin- 

 ishes as his system becomes habituated to the drug. From time to 

 time he must increase the quantity which he takes, biit at length no 

 increase will produce any effect. Under these circumstances he has 



