Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/858

Rh 794 OPIUM the average number of the children of opium-eaters being I ll after 11 years of married life. It compares favourably as regards crime and insanity with intoxicating drinks, the inhabitants of Balasor being a particularly law-abiding race, and the insane forming only 0069 per cent, of the population. Dr W. Dymock of Bombay, speaking of western India, concurs in Mr Richards s opinion regard ing the moderate xise of the drug. He believes that excessive indulgence in it is confined to a comparatively small number of the wealthier classes of the community. Dr Moore s experience of Raj- putana strongly supports the same views. It seems probable that violent physical exercise may counteract in great measure the dele terious effect of opium and prevent it from retarding the respiration, and that in such cases the beneficial effects are obtained without the noxious results which would accrue from its use to those en gaged in sedentary pursuits. There is no doubt that the spread of the practice is connected with the ban imposed in Mohammedan countries on the use of alcoholic beverages, and to some extent with the long religious fasts of the Buddhists, Hindus, and Mos lems, in which opium is used to allay hunger. To break off the habit of opium-eating is exceedingly difficult, and can be effected only by actual external restraint, or the strongest effort of a powerful will, especially if the dose has been gradually increased. Various remedies have been proposed to support the system while the habit is being dropped, the most recent of which are coca and strychnia. The habit is not confined to India, Persia, and Turkey, but is unfortunately practised in other forms in Western countries. In a few districts of England more opium is consumed than in the rest of the United Kingdom, and in the United States it is calcu lated that the number of opium-eaters is 82,696, and the average amount of opium consumed by each opium-eater in the State of Michigan is estimated at 1 oz. avoirdupois per week. Advanced opium-eaters also use in addition chloral and chloroform or ether. Of late years also the practice of using hypodermic injections of morphia has been followed as a luxury by many who have first experienced the speedy relief from pain obtained by its use. Opium-smoking. This is chiefly practised by the inhabitants of China and the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and in the countries where Chinese labour is largely employed. It is said to have com menced in China forty or fifty years before the English began to import opium into that country. In 1858 it was estimated that about 2,000,000 of Chinese smoked opium, and in 1878 from one- fourth to three-tenths of the entire population of 400,000,000. For smoking the Chinese use an extract of opium, the privilege of preparing and the exclusive right to deal in which is let to the highest bidder by the Government for a fixed term of years. The present holder of the monopoly in Hong- Kong pays 205,000 dollars annually. The same arrangement is in vogue in Singapore, French Cochin China, and Macao. The process of preparation is thus described by Mr Hugh M Callum, Government analyst at Hong- Kong : &quot;The opium is removed from its covering of leaves, &c., moistened with a little water, and allowed to stand for about fourteen hours ; it is then divided into pans, 2J balls of opium and about 10 pints of water going to each pan ; it is now boiled and stirred occasionally until a uniform mixture having the con sistence of a thin paste is obtained. This operation takes from five to six hours. The paste is at once transferred to a larger pan and cold water added to about 3 gallons, covered, and allowed to stand for from fourteen to fifteen hours. A bunch of tang suin (lamp-wick, the pith of some plant) is then inserted well into the mass, and the pan slightly canted, when a rich, clear, brown fluid is thus drawn off, and filtered through chi mui (paper made from bamboo fibre). The residue is removed to a calico filter and thoroughly washed with boiling water, the wash water being rebelled and used time after time. The last washing is done with pure water ; these washings are used in the next day s boiling. &quot; The residues on the calico filters are transferred to a large one of the same material and well pressed. This insoluble residue, called nai chai (opium dirt), is the perquisite of the head boiling coolie, who finds a ready market for it in Canton, where it is used for adulterating, or rather in manufacturing, the moist inferior kinds of prepared opium. The filtrate or opium solution is concen trated by evaporation at the boiling point, with occasional stirring until of a proper consistence, the time required being from three to four hours ; it is then removed from the fire and stirred with great vigour till cold, the cooling being accelerated by coolies with large fans. When quite cold it is taken to the hong and kept there for some months before it is considered in prime condition for smoking. As thus prepared it has the consistence of a thin treacly extract, and is called boiled or prepared opium. In this state it is largely exported from China to America, Australia, &c., being carefully sealed mpor rom na ; (2 prepared opium, opium made as above ; (3) opium dross, the scrapings from the opium pipe ; this is reboiled and manufactured as a second-class prepared opium ; a Chinese doctor stated lately at a coroner s inquest on a case of poisoning that it was more poisonous than the ordinary pre pared opium ; (4) nai chai (opium dirt), the insoluble residue left on exhaust ing the raw opium thoroughly with water. The opium is sent every day from the hong (i.e., shop or firm) to the boiling-house, the previous day s boiling being then returned to the hong. The average quantity boiled each day is from six to eight chests of Patna opium, this being the only kind used.&quot; By this process of preparation a considerable portion of the nar- cotin, caoutchouc, resin, oil, or fatty and insoluble matters are removed, and the prolonged boiling, evaporating, and baking over a naked fire tend to lessen the amount of alkaloids present in the extract. The only alkaloids likely to remain in the prepared opium, and capable of producing well-marked physiological results, are morphia, codeia, and narceia. Morphia, in the pure state, can be sublimed, but codeia and narceia are said not to give a sub limate. Even if sublimed in smoking opium, morphia would, in M Callum s opinion, probably be deposited in the pipe before it reached the mouth of the smoker. The bitter taste of morphia is not noticeable when smoking opium, and it is therefore possible that the pleasure derived from smoking the drug is due to some product formed during combustion. This supposition is rendered probable by the fact that the opiums most prized by smokers are not those containing most morphia, and that the quality is judged by the amount of soluble matter in the opium, by its tenacity or &quot;touch,&quot; and by peculiarities of aroma, the Indian opium, especially the Patna kind, bearing much the same relation to the Chinese and Persian drug that champagne does to vin ordinaire. Opium-smoking is thus described by Mr Theo. Sampson of Canton : &quot;The smoker, lying on his side, with his face towards the tray and his head resting on a high hard pillow (sometimes made of earthenware, but more fre quently of bamboo covered with leather), takes the pipe in his hand ; with the other hand he takes a dipper and puts the sharp end of it into the opium, which is of a treacly consistency. Twist ing it round and round he _ gets a large drop of the fluid to adhere to the dipper; still twisting it round to prevent it falling he brings the drop over the flame of the lamp, and twirl ing it round and round he roasts it ; all this is done with acquired dexterity. The opium must not be burnt or made too dry, but roasted gently till it looks like burnt worsted ; every now and then he takes it away from the flame and rolls it (still on the end of the 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, FIG. 3. Opium-smoking Appa- and withdraws it ; if this is properly done, the f 1 8 - a &amp;gt; P Pe ; b, dipper ; c, opium (now about the size of a grain of hemp- lamp- seed or a little larger) is left adhering to the bowl immediately over the orifice. It is now ready for smoking. &quot; 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 smok ing about thirty seconds. The smoke is swallowed, and is exhaled through both the mouth and the nose.&quot; Large quantities of morphia are exported to China from Europe for the purpose of preparing the so-called &quot;cure for opium-smok ing,&quot; which consists of one-third of a grain of hydrochlorate of mor phia mixed with a little powdered rice. The powders are taken at gradually increasing intervals, until the morphia is left off altogether. Mr. Allen Williams, in a work recently published, states that there are now nearly a million persons in the United States who indulge in opium-smoking, and the habit seems to be on the in crease in New York and other eastern cities, as well as in the west. The records of the National Bureau of Statistics show that, while the number of the Chinese in the United States has remained nearly stationary since 1876, the amount of opium imported has increased from 189,354 lb of the crude and 49,375 Ib of the lire- pared drug in 1872 to 243,211 lb of the former and 77,196 lb of the latter in 1880. Of the crude opium a certain quantity appears to be re-exported to the West Indies ; the larger proportion of the prepared drug is used in San Francisco. So far as can be gathered from the conflicting statements pub lished 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 given by authorities 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 Jo-urn., [1] xi. p. 269, xiv. p. 395 ; [2] x. p. 434 ; Impey, Report on Malwa Opium, Bombay, 1848 ; Report on Trade ofHankov. , 1869 ; New