358 THE PRESENT EVOLUTION OF MAN — MENTAL 



and it seems to turn them into everything that is bad. 

 I speak now especially of the heathen." — Rev. F. Brown, 

 First Eeport, Boyal Commission on Opium, p. 50. 



But even if it be proved true that opium has the 

 alleged disastrous effect on the morals of the heathen, 

 yet, since the possession of a high moral tone does not 

 appreciably affect the survival rate, this aspect of the 

 matter does not concern us here. It need only be 

 remarked, that it is highly unlikely that opium, any 

 more than alcohol, does directly produce such mental 

 effects. Indirectly, through loss of independence, self- 

 respect, &c., it certainly may do so. 



On the other hand, some of the scientific witnesses 

 seemed to have erred in the opposite extreme by 

 attributing to opium a r61e altogether too innocent in 

 India. It cannot be that it is entirely harmless there ; 

 for however resistant evolution may have rendered the 

 mass of the people, there must occur among them some 

 cases of retrogression in relation to opium, just as some 

 cases of retrogression in relation to alcohol occur among 

 the South Europeans — cases, that is, of arrested develop- 

 ment, in which the individual in his ontogeny does not 

 recapitulate the whole of the phylogeny, but halts at 

 the stage a more or less remote ancestor reached. But 

 the mere fact that so many highly-skilled observers, 

 favoured with splendid opportunities, failed to meet 

 with or observe cases of excessive indulgence, proves 

 how great must be the evolution in relation to opium 

 of the natives of India. The following extracts are, 

 for convenience of reference, taken solely from the " First 

 Report " of the Commission, but the succeeding Reports 

 fully confirm the evidence given in it. Sir 'George 

 Birdwood said — 



" I wish here to speak only of ray personal observation 

 of the habitual use of opium during my fifteen years' 



