24 OPIUM : 



20. 



'" Java '" Early in the seventeenth century a Dutch physician named JACOBUS BONTIUS 



went to reside at Batavia, and died there. What he wrote on medicine was after- 

 wards included in the Avork of GULIELMUS Piso, De Indies utriusque Re naturali et 

 medica Libri XIV (ELZEVIE, 1658).* The preface of BONTIUS is dated Batavia, 1629. 

 He says that those nations which use Opium seem drowsy, and are dull in commerce 

 and in arms ; but unless we had Opium to use in these hot countries, in cases of 

 dysentery, cholera, burning fever, and various bilious affections, we should practise 

 medicine in vain. This was the basis of the ancient medicines, theriac, mithridate, 

 and philonium. 



^ ie P oor I n ^ ans use . the l eaves an d branches of the Poppy to prepare an 

 inferior sort of Opium, which they obtain by drying in the sun. This they call pust, 

 and they themselves are nicknamed pusti. The rich, who indulge in the more 

 expensive drug, are known as afytini. The Greeks knew the danger of Opium 

 but not its merits, which are clearly divine, and Avhich they failed sufficiently 

 to explore. 



BONTIUS prescribed curcuma, made from Opium and the Indian crocus, Ilsi- 

 tsang-hung-hua (W ^ if! $:). This was his refuge in dysentery, cholera, phrenitis, 

 and spasms. He took refuge in Opium as a sacred anchor, he tells us, in desperate 

 cases. He used Poppy seeds and Poppy heads. He says that Opium helps nature 

 to conquer the enemy by inducing sleep, and that he could prepare it so that it should 

 not injure even an infant. 



21. 



Towards the end of the MING dynasty the practice of taking Opium medically 

 ing " or otherwise by swallowing it was destined to be soon changed for the habit of 

 Opium-smoking. It is requisite, therefore, in proceeding with this record to enter 

 on the subject of tobacco and tobacco-smoking, in order to introduce by easy transition 

 this new step taken by the Chinese in the use of Opium. 



* Kindly lent by Dr. E. BRETSCHXEIDER. 



