54 
ON THE HABITUAL USE OF OPIUM 
saw the Opium eater except in his state of ecstacy, for Professor 
Christison say “ that Insurance Companies and Insurance Physicians 
ought to be aware that not a few persons in the upper ranks in life 
are confirmed Opium Eaters, without even their intimate friends 
knowing it, and the reason is that at the time the opium Eater is vi¬ 
sible to his friends, namely, during the period of excitement, there is 
frequently nothing in his behaviour, or appearance to attract parti¬ 
cularly attention.” The second reason is that with the people who 
were the subjects of observation of Dr. Burnes, there is really not 
the misery produced as we have either with the Turk or the Chinese, 
and which I attribute in a great measure to the easily digested and 
highly nutritious food which they take with their Opium* A large 
quantity of warm fresh milk being generally drunk, and a few rich 
cakes cat, after each dose. The other authority. Dr. McPhearson 
of the Madras Army, is determined not to be run away with by the 
popular opinion that the habitual use of Opium injures the health, and 
shortens life, for, says he “ if such was the case we should expect to 
find the Chinese a shrivelled, emaciated, idiotic race hut pay at¬ 
tention to the Doctor’s powers of observation, which seem to be 
without an eye to the shading of the picture ; on the contrary, writes 
he, “ although the habit of smoking Opium is universal among the rich 
and poor we find them to be a powerful, muscular, and athletic peo¬ 
ple, and the lower orders more intelligent and far superior in mental 
acquirements to those of corresponding rank in our own country. ” 
When the Doctor hazarded the assertion that the use of Opium was 
universal, he ought not to have trusted to his own observations, for if 
he had made proper enquiries, he would have found that while the 
population of China may be said to be about 400,000,000, the num¬ 
ber of Opium smokers according to the highest estimate is little more 
than 3,000,000. It is therefore not to be surprised at that during 
the Doctors 2 years sojourn in China, he supposing every man to be 
an Opium smoker should deny its injurous effects when he saw no¬ 
thing but men with power, muscle, and activity, instead of drivelling 
idiots, meagre in their look, “whose sharp misery had worn them to 
the bones. ” Now if the Doctor, instead of imagining every good 
