The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1877-03-16
A PESTILENTIAL R U
The Processes to Which Opium is Sub
jeCted Before Reaching the
Oaueasian Consumer.

OhuCdslhn
There are some facts connected with
the habit of opium smoking, as prac.
iiced in this city, which are not
TO the general public, and
have hitherto found no place in
the annals of the history of that vice,
and an appreciation of which is calcu.
TO startle those who are drifting
under the spell wrought by the drowsy
drug Of the levant The general pub
lie only know that opium is extracted
from the poppy, and the
scientists, to speak exactly, that it is
the inspissated juice of the paparer
sOmmiterum. But the article as smoked,
and Of which this article is intended TO
treat, is something more than this. 1t
is prepared, according to accepted
Chinese formula, by these people, and
save in one place hereafter mentioned,
no opium is thus prepared except in
China. Crude opium as known to
commerce, i, a yellowish green resin.
Prepared opium, of "Opien Yen" Isl
dull black tan in color, and is of the
consistency of thick honey. 1t is i'm
ported in tins of five taels and upward.
Accepting this quantity as thestandard,
according to accurate authority it can
not be laid down at this port, duty
paid, at a cost of less than nine dollars,
and yet the present market price is
but seven dollars. This circumstance
would seem to point to an extended
evasiOl of the duty; but there is an.
other explanation for it, viz. the sue
cessful establishing of a factory for
the preparation of this drug in Oregon,
the product of which enters into ac>
tive competition with the imported
article. This mixture it is that is
smoked, not by the Caucasian, how
ever, but by the Chinese Themselves.
The outside barbarian who affects this
vice is rarely if ever permitted to in,
hale the seductive and sedative aroma
opienyen. This privilege is reserved to
the naughty Mongolian, whose celestial
breath first taints the tethal drug. What
is it, then, that the Caucasian devotee
inhales? There is,the residence of a
wealthy Chinese merchant, and here
the place of business of a prosperous
Chinese firm. In each will be found
an inner room fitted up with divan
and pillows, pipes, lamp and tray,
and those little etceteras which COM
plete the usual paraphernalia of the
opium-smoker. Hither the Mongrel
visitor, bent on business of a friendly
call, will be conducted and usually
between alternate whiflS of opium the
business will be arranged or the visit
concluded. These places to the eau
casian visitor, unless he comes with
proper credentials, are inaccessible.
The Chinese merchant keeps no opium
den for profit; he asks his friends to
smoke much the same as an American
proifers his visitor a cigar. From the
bowls of the smokers pipes at such
places as these is gathered the yen
chez, or second opium, which with
still viler stuff forms the product dealt
out in the only quarters readily ac-
cessible to those Americans who pur.
sue this pernicious habit. As all know
who have investigated the subject,
opium is not burned in smoking, as is
tobacco. A gentle heat is applied,
the enthralling vapor is inhaled, and
the residue gum, when the moisture is
expelled, drops in a semi,crystalized
state in the hollow bowl of the pipe.
This, as before intimated, is garnered,
and the total product, after the pipe
is passed may be through fifty Asiatic
mouths, is mixed in a pasty mass, and
is dealt out for the use of Caucasian
customers and the lowest class of
coolies. Again smoked in the vilest
dens IF Mongol ~depravity, breathed
upon by the fetid breath of hideous
leprosy-stricken wretches, holding the
pestilential ~exhalations of the Ioath-
some victims of venereal plague, catch.
ing the noisome salival drippings of
coolie bawds in dens shut out from air
and sunlight, this polluted mass is
again mixed in a lettering compound,
and is put to the lips of christian i'm
itators of a fa.al pagan vice. These
are the cold, unyielding facts. The
force of the English language cannot
adequately portray the situation.
What insidious and mysterious dis.
eases find their origin in the use of
this doubly-infected drug, thus dis
titled in all that is noxious, gentlemen
of scientific attachments may tell Ills 4;
what hitherto unexplainable ailment
may be traced to its origin in these
charnel houses of opium the medical
fraternity may yet record, and to this
branch Of the subject IS invited the
careful attention of those who minis
ter to the public health. The facts
here given, while conveying an i'm
portant and salutatory admonition,
may proftably form the basis of a
thorough investigation. San Francis
70 Chronicle.