The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-09-11
THE USE OF NARCOTICS,


thing to dull. stupefy, and soothe tn
nervous system-is o predominant hu
man weakness. Nature has been ran
sacked for narcotics. Tobacco, opium
betel-nut, Indian hemp, even SOM
kinds OF fungi, are employed for tn,
desired object. When tobacco was frs
introduced into Europe, its use wa
nearly everywhere looked upon will
dislike by the authorities. The effortl
that were made to suppress it amounted
to nothing less than persecution, anG
their want OF success furnishes a serious
illustration of the uselessness of legisla
tive interference with the individuals
legitimate freedom of action. Itserves
also to illustrate in come measure the
strong hold which the taste for narcotics
obtains over the mind, especially az
tobacco is one of the mildest narcotics
In use. Among ourselves, not to men.
tion King James well-knowa "Coun.
terblast. many petty restrictions were
laid on the sale of tobacco during that
monarch's reign, and the import duty
was raised from twopence to six shil-
hngs and tenpencs pound. In Eng
land and elsewhere, remonstrance and
penalti we're equally unavailing. To
bacco made its way steadily into favor,
anG is believed to be now in use among
not less than 500, 900, 600 of the human
race.
Measures of a severe nature have been
tried in China to check the use of
opium, and have bsen quite as unsuc-
cessful. However apathetic the Chinese
may be in respect to most things, they
will not submit to the withdrawal of
their favorite narcotic. But in case of
SO dangerous a poison. some restric-
tions are as much needed as they are on
the sale of spirituous liquors among
ourselves /; for the effects of habitual
excess are not less deplorable than those
OF habitual drunkenness. OF forty
prisoners confined in tho house of cor
rection at Singapore, thirty-five were
found to use opium and of these,
seventeen. who had been in receipt of
eighteen shillings a month as wages,
spent twentyfour shillings for opium,
the difference being obtained by theft.
From a sanitary point of view, the re-
suits are equally sad. The confirmed
opium eater in the east seldom lives
beyond the age of forty, and may be
recognized at a glance by his trembling
steps and curved spine, his sunken,
CLASSY eyes and Eallow, withered fea-
lures. The muscles, too, of his neck
and fingers often become contracted.
Yet mourning even this penalty will
enable him t. indulge his vics only for
a certain length of time. Unlike the
healthy enjoyment which we derive
from our appetite of hunger. and which
nature herself renews periodically, the
enjoyment Of the opium eater gradually
dlminishes as his system becomes habit
uated to the drug. From time to time
he must increase the quantity which he
fnE Byrt ak Il
produce any effect. Under these cir
cumstances he has recourse to a dan
gerous expedient he mixes a small
quantity of corrosive sublimate with
the opium, the influence of which is
thus for time renewed. Then these
means also fail !; when the victim must
bear the miserable condition to which
he is reduced, until probably, sooner or
later, he sinks into the grave. On the
excitable temperament of tho MaIays
and Javanese, strong dose of opium
causes state of frantic fury amounting
almost to Madness, and this often ends
IN that homlcidal mania which has been
called "running amuck;" in other
words, in the individual attacking with
his crease or dagger every one whom he
meets, SO that it becomes necessary to
shoot him down with as little com
Function as we do a mad dog. In Java,
opium is not allowed to bs sold except
IN an adulterated form, the risk of these
evil consequences being thus in some
measure lessened.
So far as the effects of opium on the
system are concerned, it is almost en-
tirely matter of indifference in what
way the drug is used. Whether it be
taken in the solid form of pills, in the
liquid form of laudanum, or inhaled
from PIPE as heated vapor, it speedily
exerts its pernicious and almost 1rresis
tible Influence over the mind GO that
few possess the iron will needed to re-
Iinquish the habit when it has once
been fairly acquired. How completely
even the most intellectual and Guilt
waited minds may become enslayed was
well illustrated in the cases of Cole
ridge and De Quincy, whose highly
coIored descriptions of their expert
ences are said to have been productive
OF much evil among the educated classes
OF this country. These descriptions
must not, however, be regarded as safe
criterla OF the usual influence of opium
on the colder temperament of the north
European. According to DIR. Christi
son, it seldom produces a more striking
effect on the Anglo Saxon constitution
than the removal of terpor and slug
gishness, thus rendering the opium
eater a pleasant and conversable com I
panion; but these small advantages, in
turn, are purchased by period Of sub
eequent pain ard depression, the misery
Of which it would be difficult to exag-
gerate.
Opium, besides acting as a narcotic,
Possesses q remarkable power as
restorative: By apparently checking
THE natural waste of nervous energy, it
enables the system to support fatigue,
beneath which it must otherwise in.
evitably have sunk. For this reason it
Is much used by the Halcarras, the
Palanquin bearers and messengers of
India, who journey almost incredible
distances, furnished with nothing more
than bag of rice, a little opium, and
pot to draw water from the wells. The
Tarter couriers also use it to sustain
them, when compelled to travel night
and day IN crossing the arid deserts of
Central Asia /; and in some parts of the
east it is administered as a restorative
even to horses.
1t is difficult to come to any def
rate conclusion as to whether the
physical character of eastern race
wfrot-l habitually' use opium as
narcotic has deteriorated in conse-
.s4ence. No doubt the general be-
- is that even moderate indulgence
must necessarily be injurious, and it is
easy to point to the enervated character
OF the Turks and other Oriental races
as a probable result of the habit. But
at the same time it is a disputed point
among psychologists how far this belief
correctly represents the truth. The
opinions of many men well acquainted
with the east might be quoted in oppo-
sitlon to 1t for example, DIR. EatwelI.
formerly of the East India Companv's
service, has affirmed that, as regards
the great mass of the Chinese, no min
rious effects of the opium they consume
can be noticed, the people being gener
ally muscular and well-formed race.
DIR. Macpherson has given similar testi
mony in respect to the Chinese, and DR..