The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1891-06-20
ToLsToI ON NARCOTICS.


of the human race make use of OPT.
UNI, not as a medicine, but for its
exhilarating effects. From 200, ,OOO,.
600 to 3OO, 900, 600 employ hasheesh
for the same purpose. The betel
nut is masticated by 100, 1000, 900 in.
habitants of Farther India and the
islands of the Pacific and Indian
oceans, while 100000 more in.
dulge in the use of cocoa. The
need Of, or rather the desire for,
some nerve stimulant is common
to all nations. The savage tribes
of Siberia intoxicate Themselves
with a kind Of mushroom, the In.
dians of New Granada with the juice
of a kind of thorn apple. The
American Indian, not satisfied with
tobacco, will pawn his blanket and
gun for firewater enough to make
him a raving lunatic. In India, in
Central Asia, in the heart of Africa,
and among the savages Of the Amer.
ican continent there is the same
strange seeking after something that
will give a temporary exaltatior
and enable the individual to be in.
sensible for brief period to the
discomforts that environ him. The
habitual use of the more powerful
narcotics is local; that of opium
is principally confined to China and
the countries south of it that have
Immediately felt it's influence; the
betel nut is only used in Farther
India and the islands near it, and
hasheesh in India and to a certain
extent among the Arabs. The use
of tobacco is universal or is only
limited by the ability to obtain it !;
that of opium and cocoa seem to
be rapidly extending among civil
lied nations.
Why is the human race impelled
as by a common instinct toward
this craving for stimulants? Several
writer's have in a casual way endeav'
ored to answer the question, but
Tolstoi, the Russian tale-writer, il
the first who has brought any great
amount of reasoning to bear on the
subject. He has abandoned, as il
appears, the use of wine and tobac'
CO on the ground that they are un'
necessary and injurious to the
mans physical and moral well-be.
ing, and he wishes to justify his
position in the eyes of the world
When a person is asked, he says
why he drinks or smokes, the an.
swer generally is: "To excite my
nerves. To brace me up" or 81
drink and smoke because lis agree
able, and everybody else does so. ,
If person is tired or out of spirits
he rests or cheers himself with 8
cigar or glass of liquor. Tolstoi
does not, however, say that a per
son drinks tea and coffee for the
same reason, nor does he mention
that the feeling of depression otter
experienced before eating gives
Eplace to cheerful state of minG
after a good meal, though these
facts are incidental to the question
He does not, in fact, accept the ar
guments of the man who drinks OF
smokes because it makes him fee
80 comfortable or makes him for
get his troubles, but raises the issue
to higher plane of logic. The
conscious man, he argues, distin'
guishes in himself two beings abso
lutely distinct-the sensual, which
eats and sleeps, and the thinking
being, which does, or should, ap
preciate and control the blind move
ments of the other. There is q
constant struggle between the con
scious being and the sensual being
which is always going astray; and i
is to paralyze the voice ofconscienct
that man poisons and stupefes him
self with narcotics, and not because
of any natural inclination nor fol
the pleasure that he Immediately
derives from the habit.
This is often true in civilized com
munities, but the reasoning is mo-
ample enough to cover the entire
subject. Of the 800, 600 900 or more
human beings who indulge in mar
c6tics-that is more than half the
entire population of the globe
what proportion can be said to bt
sufficiently moral or enlightened tt
have a conscience? We are not ir
the habit of crediting the mass o.
the Chinese or the hordes of Indis
with the possession of that usefu
monitor, certainly not the savag'
tribes of South America and Cen
trail Africa, especially when tn
questions to be decided 60 outside
the sphere of one or two of the Ter
Commandments. The savage con
science, if it can be so called, usu
ally recognizes no law but brute
force. and whatever morality ther'
may be in the savage character i
generally the resultofthis sentiment
Tolstoi nevertheless brings specia
arguments or instances in supper
4 60. 49, .~o.~~ o<horc tho oY