198 Scientific Intelligence . — Zoology/, 



the blood divides itself into the minuter objects figured by the author 

 \n his former paper on the blood. 



"He adds, that in its form and internal state, the blood-corpuscle 

 found in the adult of certain animals, very much resembles that exist- 

 ing only in the foetal life of others. It is incidentally remarked, that 

 the foetal brain, at certain periods, appears to consist almost entirely 

 of objects very much resembling those which, in some stages, form the 

 nuclei in the foetal corpuscles of the blood. 



The author concludes by expressing his ophiion that the mode of 

 evolution of the minute mammiferous ovum is deserving of close atten- 

 tion, hi connexion with some of the processes by which nourishment is 

 communicated, and the growth of the body effected, at all future periods 

 of life. 



13. Opium- Eaters. — l)r Poqueville, in his travels through the Mo- 

 rea, gives a minute account of the opium-eaters termed Theriakis, an 

 appellation by which they are designated, in consequence of their being 

 extravagant and irregular characters. " They begin,'* says he, " with 

 only half a grain, and increase the dose as they find it to produce the 

 desired effect. They take care not to drink water after it, as that 

 would bring on violent colics ; but the man who, at twenty, takes to 

 opium, seldom lives beyond the age of thirty or thirty-six. In the 

 course of a few years, the dose is increased to upwards of a drachm 

 or sixty grains. At this time, a pallid countenance and extreme lean- 

 ness announce a state of cahexia, which is only a prelude to a general 

 marasma or consumption of flesh. The infatuation is so great that the 

 certainty of death, and all the infirmities that lead to it, is incapable of 

 correcting a Theriaki, or a person addicted to the use of opium ; he 

 coldly answers to any one who apprises him of his danger, that his 

 ha^Dpiness is incomparable when he has absorbed his pill of opium. If 

 it be asked to define this supernatural felicity, he only says that it is 

 impossible to describe it, as it is a pleasure not to be explained. These 

 miserable beings, however, towards the close of their life, or rather of 

 that state of stupefaction into which they are plunged, experience the 

 most severe pains and a continued hunger ; they are tormented by a 

 desperate satyriasis, without the capability of satisfying their desires ; 

 in short, they experience pains which even the delicious paragoric can- 

 not assuage ; and having become hideous, deformed by numerous peri- 

 ostoses, deprived of their teeth, and afflicted with an incessant trem- 

 bling, they cease to exist a long time before their life is at an end. 

 The Baron de Tott, writing on the same subject, gives a miserable pic- 

 ture of those who frequent the opium-market at Constantinople, de- 

 scribing them as having pale and melancholy countenances, with meagre 



