Page:EB1911 - Volume 20.djvu/163

 dipper) on the flat surface of the bowl. When it is roasted and rolled to his satisfaction he gently heats the centre of the bowl, where there is a small orifice; then he quickly thrusts the end of the dipper into the orifice, twirls it round smartly and withdraws it; if this is properly done, the opium (now about the size of a grain of hemp-seed or a little larger) is left adhering to the bowl immediately over the orifice. It is now ready for smoking.

“The smoker assumes a comfortable attitude (lying down of course) at a proper distance from the lamp. He now puts the stem to his lips, and holds the bowl over the lamp. The heat causes the opium to frizzle, and the smoker takes three or four long inhalations, all the time using the dipper to bring every particle of the opium to the orifice as it burns away, but not taking his lips from the end of the stem, or the opium pellet from the lamp till all is finished. Then he uses the flattened end of the dipper to scrape away any little residue there may be left around the orifice, and proceeds to prepare another pipe. The preparations occupy from five to ten minutes, and the actual smoking about thirty seconds. The smoke is swallowed, and is exhaled through both the mouth and the nose.” 3.—Opium-smoking Apparatus. 𝑎, pipe; 𝑏, dipper; 𝑐, lamp.

So far as can be gathered from the conflicting statements published on the subject, opium-smoking may be regarded much in the same light as the use of alcoholic stimulants. To the great majority of smokers who use it moderately it appears to act as a stimulant, and to enable them to undergo great fatigue and to go for a considerable time with little or no food. According to the reports on the subject, when the smoker has plenty of active work it appears to be no more injurious than smoking tobacco. When carried to excess it becomes an inveterate habit; but this happens chiefly in individuals of weak will-power, who would just as easily become the victims of intoxicating drinks, and who are practically moral imbeciles, often addicted also to other forms of depravity. The effect in bad cases is to cause loss of appetite, a leaden pallor of the skin, and a degree of leanness so excessive as to make its victims appear like living skeletons. All inclination for exertion becomes gradually lost, business is neglected, and certain ruin to the smoker follows. There can be no doubt that the use of the drug is opposed by all thinking Chinese who are not pecuniarily interested in the opium trade or cultivation, for several reasons, among which may be mentioned the drain of bullion from the country, the decrease of population, the liability to famine through the cultivation of opium where cereals should be grown, and the corruption of state officials.

See Pharmaceutical Journ. [1] xi. p. 269, xiv. p. 395; [2] x. p. 434; Impey, Report on Malwa Opium (Bombay, 1848); Report on Trade of Hankow (1869); New Remedies (1876), p. 229; Pharmacographia (1879), p. 42; Journal of the Society of Arts (1882); The Friend of China (1883), &c. Report of the Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States Opium Commission (1908), App. xxiii. and xxiv.; Allen, Commercial Organic Analysis, vol. iii. pt. iv. p. 355; Frank Browne, Report on Opium (Hong-Kong, 1908); G. Watt, Dictionary of the Economic Products of India (1892); H. Moissan, Comptes rendus, of the 5th of December 1892, iv. p. 33; Lalande, Archives de médicine navale, t. l. (1890); International Opium Commission (1909), vol. ii. “Report of the Delegations”; Squire, Companion to the British Pharmacopeia (1908) (18th edition).

OPLADEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine Province, 10 m. N.E. from Cologne by the railway to Elberfeld and at the junction of lines to Speldorf and Bonn. Pop. (1905) 6338. It has an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church. It has dyeing works, and manufactures of dynamite, indigo products and railway plant. Before passing to Prussia, Opladen belonged to the duchy of Berg.

OPON, a town of the province of Cebu, Philippine Islands, on the small island of Mactan (area about 45 sq. m.), which is separated from the island of Cebu by a channel only about 1 m. wide. Pop (1903), after the annexation of Cordova and Santa Rosa, 20,166. There are forty-four barrios, or villages, in the town, and three of these had in 1903 more than 1000 inhabitants each. The language is Visayan. Opon is a shipping and commercial suburb of Cebu city, the harbour of which is sheltered by Mactan Island. The town has large groves of coco-nut trees, and its principal industries are the cultivation of Indian corn and maguey and fishing. In the N.E. part of the town is a monument to Magellan, who discovered the Philippines in March 1521, and was slain here by the natives late in the following month.

 OPORTO (i.e. o porto, “the port”), the second city of the kingdom of Portugal, the capital of the district of Oporto and formerly of Entre-Douro-e-Minho; on both banks of the river Douro, about 3 m. from its mouth, in 41° 8′ N. and 8° 37′ W. Pop. (1900) 167,955. In Portuguese the definite article is uncompounded in the name of the city, which in strict accuracy should always be written Porto; the form Oporto has, however, been stereotyped by long usage in English and in some other European languages. The part of the city south of the Douro is known as Villa Nova de Gaia. Oporto is the see of a bishop, in the archiepiscopal province of Braga. It is the true capital of northern Portugal, and the commercial and political rival of Lisbon, in much the same way as (q.v.) is the rival of Madrid. Three main railway lines meet here—from Lisbon, from Valença do Minho on the northern frontier, and from Barca d’Alva on the north-western frontier. The Valença line has branches to Guimarães and Braga, and affords access to Corunna and other cities of north-western Spain; the Barca d’Alva line has a branch to Mirandella and communicates with Madrid via Salamanca. Oporto is built chiefly on the north or right bank of the Douro; its principal suburbs are Bomfim on the E., Monte Pedral and Paranhos on the N., Villar Bicalho, Lordello and São João da Foz on the W., Ramalde, Villarinha, Matozinhos, Leça da Palmeira and the port of Leixões on the N.W. The mouth of the river is obstructed by a sandy spit of land which has been enlarged by the deposits of silt constantly washed down by the swift current; on the north side of this bar is a narrow channel varying in depth from 16 ft. to 19 ft. A fort in São João da Foz protects the entrance, and there is a lighthouse on a rock outside the bar. As large vessels cannot enter the river, a harbour of refuge has been constructed at (q.v.).

The approach to Oporto up the winding and fjord-like estuary is one of singular beauty. On the north the streets rise in terraces up the steep bank, built in many cases of granite overlaid with plaster, so that white is the prevailing colour of the city; on the south are the hamlets of Gaia and Furada, and the red-tiled wine lodges of Villa Nova de Gaia, in which vast quantities of “port” are manufactured and stored. The architecture of the houses and public buildings is often rather Oriental than European in appearance. There are numerous parks and gardens, especially on the outskirts of the city, in which palms, oranges and aloes grow side by side with the flowers and fruits of northern Europe, for the climate is mild and very equable, the mean temperatures for January and July—the coldest and the hottest months—being respectively about 50° and 70°. The Douro is at all seasons crowded with shipping, chiefly small steamers and large sailing vessels. The design of some of the native craft is peculiar—among them may be mentioned the high-prowed canoe-like fishing boats, the rascas with their three lateen sails, and the barcos rabello, flat-bottomed barges with huge rudders, used for the conveyance of wine down stream. Two remarkable iron bridges, the Maria Pia and the Dom Luiz I., span the river. The first was built by Messrs Eiffel & Company of Paris in 1876–1877; it rests on a granite substructure and carries the Lisbon railway line across the Douro ravine at a height of 200 ft. The second, constructed in 1881–1885 by a Belgian firm, has two decks or roadways, one 33 ft., the other 200 ft. above the usual water-level; its arch, one of the largest in Europe, has a span of 560 ft. and is supported by two massive granite towers. The Douro is liable in winter to sudden and violent floods; in 1909–1910 the water rose 40 ft. at Oporto, where it is confined in a deep and narrow bed.

Though parts of the city are modern or have been modernized, the older quarters in the east are extremely picturesque, with their steep and narrow lanes overshadowed by lofty balconied houses. Overcrowding and dirt are common, for the density of population is nearly 13,000 per sq. m., or greater than in any other city of Portugal. Until the early years of the 20th century, when