50 
ON THE HABITUAL USE OF OPIUM 
we would have as public burdens some thousands, but from many 
causes the open hand of charity has been closed, the spring’s of com¬ 
passion for the poor dried up, and it was not until the horrid spec¬ 
tacles of miserable Chinese daily crawling in front of our doors, ex¬ 
posing their loathsome sores and leprous bodies, and polluting the 
air we breathed, it was not until these wretched beings without food 
or friends, and deprived by the Almighty of the power of supporting 
themselves, laid themselves down, and died in our streets of disease 
and starvation, then, and not till then, by the active philanthropy, of 
one or two individuals, was a shed erected to keep out of sight these 
disgusting paupers, but which philanthropy has now, since the novel¬ 
ty is over, dwindled down to the monthly contribution of .If 14,—the 
sum total of the public charity of Europeans to the poor of the coun¬ 
try they live in. In this miserable abode we have two classes of 
men, yet united in the same individuals. We have the poor, and we 
have the diseased, constituting the only class of poor that can almost 
claim our sympathy here, the diseased poor. When I examined them 
there were present 125, of which number 70 were Opium smokers, 
and 55 were not, or would not acknowledge to it, and whose protes¬ 
tations were vouched for, by their comrades; of these opium smokers, 
some, previous to their entrance, were reduced to consume the Sam- 
shing or Tye Tinco, and all who at present were able to use Opium, 
either used that form, or the Tinco, or Chandu in very reduced quan¬ 
tities. The total daily consumption of these paupers before their en¬ 
trance into the hospital, was 337 boons, giving an average daily con¬ 
sumption to each Opium smoker of 4, of a boon, being nearly 
the average consumption of the opium smoker at large. The greatest 
amount consumed by one individual amounted to 2 chin daily, but 
at that rate his finances soon failed him and five boons w T as his quan¬ 
tity shortly before he became an invalid. A second consumer of a 
like quantity received S' 15 monthly in wages, or rather his profits 
amounted to that sum, from which he paid <|<fl2 for opium. Among 
the 62 Opium smokers, I find the total daily consumption of chan¬ 
du, to be 107 boons, which, at 60 cents monthly^for each hoon con¬ 
sumed daily, will make ^ 184. 20, as the value of the opium used by 
