Pioche daily record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1872-1876, 1874-01-21
OPIUM SMOKING.

,,,oh has been written by learned au-
u.s. Of Europe in relation to the terrible
.a usa',s Of opium smoking. American
rr;ters have also composed voiuminous
"aners upon the same subject. In all in
Phres P.,arces China is spoken OF AS that place
r .her. the practice most prevails. Per-
WIS the Americans who have written SO
ilIpsb n"pb in relation to the matter are not
amsra muI that in New York, the empire city
q their country, there is situated an
oninm smoking saloon, which, for dirt,
oirroIor and sliminess, can well rank with
,Se most frequented dens of Canton.
Tn Donovan's lane, miserable little
,,lav opening from Baxter street, a room
- lent particularly aud solely for the
Ssryice of opium smokers. 1t is con-
Jucted by withered old wreck, who, al
,bouoh only forty years Of age, by his in
rs,erate use of the drug, has the appear.
once of being at least seventy. The
room, if it can be called such, is about
twenty feet long by SIX wide; slanting
hoard shelf is fixed lengthwise to one of
tbe walls. This is long enough to allow
man of small stature to lie at full
Isup,b. but not more than four persons
conI1 lie on it at a time. 1t is upon this
that the opium smokers recline when in
dnlpipg their terrible longing. The place
was visited few evenings since, and was
found occupied by two Chinese, one of
them very old man, and the other a
youth. who stated that he had just been
discharged from the United States
steamer Juniata, upon which he had
- ri Rnfh
smoking opium.
Many persons suppose that opium is
used in the same way that tobacco is.
This, however, is a mistake. Tobacco
can be smoked standing, walking and at
business. The opium smoker always
lies down when INDUCING his habit, and
gives all his attention to the process of
iphaling the fumes of the drug Before
opium can be used by the smoker it hus
to be prepared most carefully by persons
skilled in its concoction. 1t is reduced
from a solid to liquid form by boiling
with small quantity Of water, and when
ready for the pipe looks like thin paste
OF thick, muddy molasses. The opium
pipe consists OF reed about an inch IN
diameter. The aperture in the bow
which admits the drug is not much larger
than the head OF pin. One hundredth
part of an ounce is all that can besmoked
by beginner. Old, debauchees however,
can use from quarter to third OF an
ounce daily. Tobacco smokers always
emit smoke from their mouths, but an
old opium smoker invariably blows the
fumes through his nostrils, and yer.
often absorbs them in his lungs. to
bacco pipe can be easily lighted by
match or coal of fire, but the opium
pipe must be lighted with great care, and
always by the steady flame of an OF
lamp. The small opening in the bowl II
held in the flame, and the light is draw
into the reed. After the opium is ignites
the process OF smoking is a very shor
one; only one or two whiffs can b
taken, and in this way, lighting an
smoking, scores of persons. lnhabltant
of this city, spend hour after hour. neve
ceasing until they drop of into tn
dsath-like stupor which is the aim OF al
opium smoking.
Inyeterate smokers live for nothin
but the qualification of their appetites
When it cannot be satisfied they suffe
tortures of the most horrible character
Those persons who become addicted t
the use of the poison seldom live to NOR
than fifty years OF age; most OF them dl
within Ave years after they have reache
that stage in which they can consume
third of an ounce day. The Chimes
in this city admit that the effects OF Il
drug upon the human frame are ruinoI
in the extreme; they argue, however, th
all nations indulge in some dissipation
the Americans, they say, drink whisk'
until they are drunk. and they ask,
this be SO, why is it wrong for Chm
man to become senseless with opium
Those who live in New York are, wi
few exceptions, devoted to the prsctl
Of opium.smoking, and, what is far mo
terrible, a large number of young viii
girls, residing in their neighborhood, a
rapidly becoming addicted to the sar
vice. They live with the Chinese VIII
they can lind no other home, for althoul
the people of their own race close thu
doors against them, they are always W
come at the firesides of those to who
they sell their souls for the sustennnce
their bodies.-[N. Y. Times.