The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-01-22
Opium Smoking.

tnOEs OF Europe IN relALlOu 10 the -tdf-
rible effects of opium smoking. Ameri-
can writers have also composed volum-
fnous papers upon the same subject In |
all instances China is spoken OF as that
place where the practice most prevails.
Perhaps the Americans who have writ
ten SO much inrelalion to the matter are
not aware that in New York, the empire
city of their country, there is an opium
smoking saloon which, for dirt, squalor
and sliminess, can we'll rank with the
most frequented dens of Canton.
In Donovan's lane, miserable little
alley opening from Baxter street, a room
is kept particularly and solely for the
service of opium smokers. 1t is con-
Quoted by a withered old wreck, who,
although only forty years of age, by
his inveterate use of the drug, has the
appearance of being at least 20. The
room, if it can be called such, is about
twelve feet long by wide; slanting
board shelf is fixed lengthwiseto one of
the walls. This is long enough to allow
a man of full stature to lie at full length,
but no more than four persons could be
on it at time. It is upon this that the
opium smokers recline when indulging
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 Uuited Stares
steamer Juniata, upon which he had
served as officers steward. Both were
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 al
ways lies down when indulging his
habit, and gives his whole attention to
the process of inhaIiBg the fumes of
the drug. Before opium can be used
it has to be prepared most carefully by
persons skilled in its concoction. It is
reduced from a solid to a LIQUID by
boiling with a small quantity of water,
and when ready for the pipe looks like
a thin paste or thick, muddy molasses.
The opium pipe consists of a reed an
inch in diameter. The aperture in the
bowl which admits the drug is not
much larger than the head of a pin.
One hundredth part of an ounce is all
that can be smoked by beginner. Old
debauchees, however, can use from q
quarter to third of an ounce daily.
Tobacco smokers always emit the smoke
from their mouths, but an old opium
smoker invariably blows the fumes
from his nostrils, and very often absorbs
them IN his lungs. A tobacco pipe car
be lighted easily by a match or coal Of
fire, but the opium pipe must be lighted
with great care, and always by the
steady flame of an oil lamp. The small
opening in the bowl is held in the flame
and the light is drawn into the reed
After the opium is ignited the process
of smoking is very short one; onl,
one or two whiffs can be taken, and il
this way, lighting and smoking, score
of persons, inhabitants of this city
spend hour after hour, never ceasinI
until they drop off into the death liln
! stupor which is the aim of all opium
l smokers.
Inveterate smokers live for nothin
but the qualification of their appetites
When it cannot be satisfied they suffe
tortures of the most horrid character
Those persons who are addicted to til
use of this poison, seldom live to b
more than 80 years of age; most {
them die within five years after the
have reached that stag in which the
can consume third of an ounce a da,
= The Chinese admit that the effects
the drug upon the human frame are rui
= GUS in the extreme; they argue, no,
ever, that all nations indulge in son
. dissipation; the Americans, they sa
% drink whisky until they are drunk, al
a they ask if this be so, why is it wro1
a for Cinnamon to become senseless wi
n opium? Those who live in New Yo,
70 are, with few exceptions, devoted
NJ the practice of opium smoking, an
At what is far more terrible, large nul
O. Der of white girls residing in the neig
10 borhood are becoming addicted to t,
es same vice. They live with the Chine
ID when they can find no other home, fC
g although the people of their own "a
ne close their doors against them, they a
"A always welcome at the fresides of tho
n to whom they sell their souls for /
40 sustenance of their bodies.-M
IL Times.