228 
B A T A V I A. 
ever, considered in India as the best and most aoTeeable 
. powder that can be used for the teeth. .;/>•.»- 
The sedative and soporific qualities of opium are well 
adapted to the character and habits of the Javanese. This 
inspissated juice of the poppy is the greatest blessing and the 
greatest curse that the ingenuity of man ever devised the means 
of extracting from the vegetable part of the creation. When 
taken in moderation, it softens the anguish of bodily pain, 
tranquillizes the mind and, like the waters of Lethe, draAvs 
the veil of oblivion over corroding care ; a larger dose pro- 
duces a temporary exhilaration of the spirits which 
subsides into lowness and lanouor : and when used to 
excess, it irritates even to madness and to death. Opium, 
howevei', is too expensive a luxury to become of general use, 
and can be taken only occasionally by the bulk of the people ; 
but other though less agreeable substitutes, possessing similar 
c[uaUue5, have been resorted to for producing the same 
effects, as the common tobacco and the seeds and leaflets of 
bangue or hemp. But the seeds of the Datum Indica arc 
said to be more powerfully narcotic than either opium, to- 
bacco, or hemp ; and that, if taken only in a moderate 
quantity, they will affect the brain and produce the most 
violent paroxysms of madness. A Leyden doctor, having 
probably heard of their efficacy in this way, was induced to 
try their effect as a remedy in cases of mental derangement ; 
and he published an account of several instances in which he 
pretends this medicine was administered with complete suc- 
cess.- — Sanat quern sauciat ipsa." On the same priiiciple, 
T)r, Storke of Vienna administered large doses of Hijoscyamiis 
