Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-03-28
Opium Smoking.


Opium eating is an old and consider
ably diffused habit in this country.
Opfum-smoking, on the other hand, is
a novelty of very recent introduction;
but the vice, or the accomplishment. is
represented as rapidly spreading. The
statistics upon this point are curiously
definite. The person who Is reputed TO
have been the first American opium
smoker was sporting character
named Clendennyn; this was in Cali
fornia in 1868 The second, induced
by the first, smoked in 1871. The prac-
tice spread rapidly until 1875, at which
time the authorities, finding that many
women and young girls, as also young
men ofrespectable family, were induced
to visit the dens, where they were ru-
med morally and otherwise, ~ city or
dinance was passed forbidding the prac-
tice, under penalty OF q heavy fine or
Imprisonment. Many arrests were
made, and the punishment was prompt
and thorough. The practice, however,
spread eastward like an epidemic. In
Virginia City, Nevada, it appeared
among Americans in 1876, and was soon
made q penitentiary offense. Had 1t
.
writes a local physician, II am satisfied
that the practice would have extended
into the higher classes" Truckee,
Carson, Reno and other towns along
the Pacific Railroad quickly fell into
line. During the same year Americans
in Chicago, st. Louis and New Orleans
began to smoke opium; and the first
.'opium-joint" or "smoking-den" for
American customers was opened early
in 1877.
1t need not be said that the Chinese
in our large cities have long had their
opium-houses.
joints for the newly-developed
American opium smoker now exist not
only in the Chinese quarter of New
York, Mott street,, but also in several
uptown quarters. One of them, it
seems, is kept by American women.
This account OF the spread of the
practice is confirmed by the in
creasing importation of the drug
in the particular form of smoking
opium. OF this (not pound of which
is used for medicine), SO, l89 pounds
were consumed in the United States in
the fiscal year 1876, and u, 1876 pounds
the values for the respective years
} being S577, 2S8 and S773, 796. AS the
|, Chinese population has remained nearly
stationary since 1876. this increase is
attributable to American smokers oil
opium. These are now estimated at
5000 or more, and their average indi-
vidual consumption at 100 grains per
day.
The quantity seems enormous; but
the fact is that to produce given de-
gree of narcotism the opium-smoker' s
| dose must be several times greater than
the opium-eater' The contact of the
narcotized smoke (when breathed into
the lungs), with the absorbing pull.
monary tissues is brief, and much of the
, narcotic principle is carried away with
the expired smoke, while the residual
air. of the lungs forms an obstacle to
the complete INTERPRETATION of the
; tissues. Some thirty. three per cent OF
; the opium, again, is converted into an
ash which is rich in morphia, six grains
, of it, administered hypodermically,
being enough to paralyze n rabbit
The average consumption of the Chi
nese smoker is estimated by Sir Ruth.
5 grains, daily. The number of opium
smokers in China has been the subject
: of careful inquiry, but with greatly diff
D fering conclusions. 1t is probably from
: 100000 to 5000, 000--one or two pei
cent. that is to say, of population that
exceeds 800, 000,0 900. Inspector-Genera'
: Hart, of Shanghai, says: There is 0
, deeply-rooted conviction in the Chinese
mind that opium does unutterable harm
, to the country" There is n saying
!. among the Chinese to this effect: ''Du
ring the opium-war the English CAV,
! us balls of iron, and after the war ball
| of opium" In 1869 Bishop Shereshey-
= sky was driven out of the capital o
Honan Province by mob which shout
I ed: "You burned our palace; you kille'
e our Emperor; you sell poison to tn
=, people; and now you come to teach u
virtucv'--N y. Evening Post.