OPIUM 143 



A posteriori considerations therefore abundantly 

 confirm the conclusion we came to on a priori 

 grounds, namely, that wherever the death-dealing 

 narcotic opium is in common use as an intoxi- 

 cant, there also it must be a cause of evolution. 

 It is practically harmless to the natives of India, 

 who have used it for some hundreds of years. It is 

 more injurious to the Chinese whose acquaintance 

 with it is much shorter. But the natives of 

 Burmah, who have only lately become possessed 

 of it, take it in such excess, and perish of it in 

 such numbers, that we, the English rulers of the 

 country, are obliged to prohibit the use of opium 

 in Burmah to Burmans alone, while permitting to 

 all other peoples, just as in Canada and Australia 

 we are obliged to prohibit the use of alcohol to the 

 aborigines alone, while permitting it to all others. 



