Review. 1 77 



invariably debilitate the organs, to which they are 

 immediately applied ; at length they have a similar 

 effect on the whole system. At the head of this class 

 of drugs Ave place opium, which is the milky juice 

 that exudes from the heads of poppies, when incisions 

 are made in them ; and then gradually dried in the 

 sun. To this class belong also Cicuta or hemlock, 

 Belladonna or deadly nightshade, Stramonium or ap- 

 ple of Peru, and Nicotiana or Tobacco. 



" The Turks, who were forbidden by Mahomet to 

 drink wine, intoxicate themselves with opium. It 

 is said, that some will eat more than an ounce in a 

 day. We have seen, that nothing so effectually pre- 

 serves health and prevents disease, as maintaining the 

 tone and regular motions of the digestive organs ; 

 and there is no drug in common use, which renders 

 them so torpid, and which so effectually stagnates 

 their functions, as opium. After destroying the ener- 

 gy of the stomach, it undermines the powers of all 

 the other organs, in succession, even to the organ of 

 thought. Travellers inform us, that the visage and 

 general appearance of the opium-eaters in Turkey are 

 the most disgusting imaginable ; even worse than our 

 most abandoned rum-drinkers. Some of these mise- 

 rable Turks have, however, mind enough left to des- 

 troy themselves by the dagger, to prevent living, or 

 rather breathing, a few years longer, in a state of con- 

 firmed idiotism, which is the fate of most of them, 

 during the latter years of their existence. Thus 

 much for opium : but what shall we say of Nicotiana, 

 or our beloved Tobacco ? 

 vol. 1. part 11. z 



