40 



remarkable exciting properties of opium, were they unac- 

 companied by subsequent depression, or other injurious 

 effects, would render opium a much more desirable kind of 

 stimulant than either alcoholic liquors or tobacco ; it is, 

 however, fortunate that in this country its employment has 

 not extended beyond a few individuals — chiefly in the 

 middle and upper classes of society — for opium is the most 

 seductive kind of stimulant, owing to the agreeable and 

 intellectual character of the excitement it causes. The 

 habit is also very apt to be confirmed, from the depression 

 and lowness of spirits which are experienced subsequently ; 

 and we shall presently observe that it leads to most 

 miserable results. 



The effects of opium upon the bodily and mental 

 faculties are admirably illustrated in the " Confessions of 

 the English Opium Eater" — an individual who was the 

 victim of this habit during a period of more than twelve 

 vears, and acquired the extraordinary power of taking daily 

 320 grains of solid opium, or 8,000 drops of laudanum ! 



Whether chewed or smoked, opium seems to be 

 exceedingly injurious to the health, though it may be 

 difficult to prove that it shortens life The habitual 

 excitement of the mental faculties can scarcely fail to 

 exhaust and weaken them, and the individual becomes 

 extremelv miserable — the complexion sallow, the stomach 

 disordered, and the body feeble and emaciated. Among 

 the lower classes of the Chinese, the baneful effects are 

 said to be conspicuously displayed by stupor, forgetfulness, 

 general deterioration of the mental faculties, emaciation, 

 debility, sallow complexion, and loss of appetite. 



TWELFTH MEETING. 



ROYAL INSTITUTION, (ith April, 1846. 



The PRESIDENT in the Chair. 



Dr. Scholefield was admitted a member of the 

 Society. 



Mr. Higginson stated that the whale then exhibited at 

 Tranmere was not a spermaceti whale, but a Rorqual, a 

 species abundant in the Hebrides, yielding little oil, and 

 valuable chieflv as a manure. 



