Scientific Intelligence. — Zooloyy. 199 



necks, heads twisted to one side, back bones distorted, shoulders drawn 

 up to the ears, and other extraordinary appearances. Seated in the 

 twilight of the evening, or reclining on sofas, in the little shops, ranged 

 along the walls of the Mosque of Solyman, may be seen the infatuated 

 Theriakis swallowing their opium-pills in proportion to the degree of 

 want, which habit has rendered necessary. Each poor votary anxiously 

 awaits the agreeable reverie that is to follow, as the effect of this in- 

 dulgence. He soon retires to his home, full of an imaginary happiness 

 which neither reason nor the realities of life can procure ; and in this 

 manner, each succeeding day witnesses a repetition of the same irregu- 

 larity, till, worn out with debility and intemperance, he at last sinks 

 like a shadow into the grave. In addition to these observations, the 

 following anecdote will be read with interest : — An English ambassa- 

 dor, lately sent to a Mahometan prince, was conducted, upon his arri- 

 val at the palace, through several richly decorated and spacious apart- 

 ments, crowded with officers, arrayed in superb dresses, to a room, 

 small in dimensions, but ornamented Avith the most splendid and costly 

 furniture. The attendants withdrew. After a short interval, two 

 persons, of superior mien, entered the saloon, followed by state-bearers, 

 carrying, under a lofty canopy, a litter covered with delicate silks, and 

 the richest Cashmere shawls, upon which lay a human form, to all ap- 

 pearance dead, except that its head was dangling from side to side, as 

 the bearers moved into the room. Two officers, holding rich filagree 

 waiters, carried each a chalice, and a vial containing a dark fluid. The 

 ambassador, considering the spectacle to be connected with some court 

 ceremony of mourning, endeavoured to retire ; but he was soon unde- 

 ceived by seeing the officers holding up the head of the apparent corpse, 

 and after gently chafing the throat, and returning the tongue, which 

 hung from a mouth collapsed and gaping, pouring some of the black 

 liquor into the throat, and closing the jaw until it sunk down the pas- 

 sage. After repeating six or seven times the ceremony, the figure 

 opened its eyes, and shut its mouth voluntarily ; it then swallowed a 

 large portion of the black fluid, and, within the hour, an animated be* 

 ing sat on the couch, with blood returning into its legs, and a feeble 

 power of articulation. In the Persian language he addressed his visi*. 

 tor, and inquired the particulars of his mission. Within two hours, 

 this extraordinary person became alert, and his mind capable of ardu- 

 ous business. The ambassador, after apologizing for the liberty, ven- 

 tured to inquire into the cause of the scene which he had just wit- 

 nessed. 



" Sir," said he, '' I am an inveterate opium-eater ; I have by slow 

 degrees fallen into this melancholy excess. Out of the diurnal twenty- 



