THE PRESEXT EVOLUTION OF MAN — MENTAL 361 



Sir William Moore said — 



" Well, I came to the conclusion that opium-smoking 

 was practically harmless, and that drinking umtxl 

 pawnee, or opium-water, was practically harmless. . . . 

 I should wish to draw attention to the fact that insur- 

 ance societies do not impose a higher rate on opium- 

 eaters. With respect to that they are guided by the 

 medical officers of the societies. They were addressed 

 on the subject some little time ago in Calcutta and 

 Bombay, and they all gave the same answer." — Ibid. 

 pp. 71-2. 



To the question — 



"Then you would compare the use of opium amongst 

 tiiose people to the use — the moderate use — of alcoholic 

 li({Uors amongst ourselves? " Dr. Mouat replied — 

 " tlndoubtedly," and in answer to the further question, 

 " And quite as harmless ? " " Yes, quite, in fact more 

 so, because a man shows a flushed face and many other 

 indications of familiarity with alcohol, but you could 

 detect nothinsf of the kind in the case of those who 

 used opium. They were all temperate ; I never saw, 

 in the whole thirteen years I was living amongst them 

 (and I saw them daily) — they came to me at the out- 

 door dispensary, or at the hospital, and as a friend, and 

 I never saw, in all that time, an opium drunkard." — 

 Ibid. p. 75. 



In answer to the question — 



" Will you explain to the Commission what you your- 

 self have observed as to the evils of the opium habit ? " 

 he said, " I never saw any one who exhibited such an 

 amount of misuse of opium, not one in the whole course 

 of that time, so I cannot speak to it from personal 

 knowledge." And again to the question, " You did not 

 see any sufferers from opium ? " he replied, " No, not 

 one." — Ibid. p. 75. 



