86 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
pleasurably the nervous system. In countries where the prevailing religion forbids 
the use of alcohol, as in Turkey, it is in constant use as an indulgence, which, if once 
permitted, is seldom or never abandoned. The Turks call it afioni, and in the opium- 
shops of Constantinople they take it in graduated doses from 10 to 100 grains a day. 
It is mixed with rich syrup and the inspissated juices of fruit, to render it more 
palatable and less intoxicating. It is taken with a spoon, or made up into lozenges 
stamped with the words Mash Allah, literally meaning the Work of God. It is also 
smoked. The Tartar couriers, who travel great distances and with astonishing rapidity, 
take little else to support them in their journeys. The pernicious practice of 
habitually taking opium has gradually found its way throughout the East, and has 
become the besetting sin of the Chinese. It impairs the digestive organs, and thus 
undermines the vigour of the whole body ; gradually its effects are seen on the mental 
energies. The memory soon fails ; the victim to this habit becomes prematurely old ; 
and one of the greatest blessings, given to man to use in a time of necessity and pain, 
is thus turned into a curse: frightful indeed are the sufferings of an opium-eater 
after the action of his dose has subsided. In the well-known work entitled “Con- 
fessions of an English Opium-Hater” is a vividly painful account of the fascination 
which draws victims into habits of confirmed indulgence in opium intoxication. The 
passive pleasurableness and languishing enjoyment, the almost ecstatic condition of the 
opium-eater during the activity of his dose, are here wrought into a sort of romance, 
which describes most graphically the irresistible nature of this pernicious indulgence. 
It is indeed an agent which can 
“Raze out the written troubles of the brain, 
And with a sweet oblivious antidote 
Cleanse the full bosom of that perilous stuff 
Which weighs upon the heart.” 
Knowing its power and its fascinations, all who from disease and necessity are com- 
pelled to use it, do well to feel thankful for so beneficent a provision of Providence to allay 
pain, and secure the greatest of all Nature’s sweet restorers, “balmy sleep ;” but should 
beware of being led into the abuse of so kindly a gift, not less to be dreaded in its 
effects than the fumes of alcohol. It is related in mythological traditions, that some 
prepared and flavoured infusion of opium administered to the sensual enjoyments and 
debauchery of the denizens of Olympus. Milton alludes to such potations in “Comus :”— 
“ And first, behold this cordial julep here, 
That flames and dances in the crystal bounds, 
With spirits of balm and fragrant syrups mix’d ;— 
Not that Nepenthes, which the wife of Thon 
In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena, 
Is of such power to stir up joy as this.” 
The bright-growing flower and green leaves of the Poppy plant, in the field or the 
garden, would scarcely suggest the important properties, powerful both for good and 
evil, contained in its sap. Its hanging head and drooping unopened flowers, appearing 
almost as though overcome with sleep and lethargy themselves, have frequently been 
noticed. Homer alludes to it :-— 
“ As brilliant Poppies, overcharged with rain, 
Recline their heads, and droop above the plain, 
So sinks the youth.” 
