Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-23

brought from India to China in the solid
cake. So powerful Is the narcotic that the
intoxicate a beginner though an old stager
can stand a quarter of an ounce. II the
drug Is used regularly at a certain hour
every day the smoker INA short time can
not get past that hour without his pipe.
He becomes nervous, feyerish and endures
terrible torture. II he takes few whtns
of opium he Is once more one of the hap
piest of mortals. Once form the habit, and
like the contract between Faust and the
devil. there is no breaking of. II ID an
expensive luxury; one In which the very
poor fortunately cannot indulge. 1t costs
an inveterate smoker about SIS a month,
and the vice In a short time leads to list
lassness. Incidence, neglect Of business and
death more horrible than that caused by
delirium tremens. The Chinese have a
aging that the opium smokers made
the night day and the day night.
It is study to watch the coming on
OF the happy feeling when he enters
the Joint. The opiurn-devil. as the Chinese
call him. is haggard and woe-begone. the
banker Is on him. he Is restless and missr-
able. A few whiffs and he feels invigor-
ated. A few more and he is happy; another
turn and he Is silly. He has a countsnance
now which Is a good counterpart OF the
ruins Of a temple in Athens. He grins,
screws up his eyes. gigsies. makes funny
faces. laughs, not broadly with legitimate
humor. but In manner that Is purely
<1HOlHcT pun at his ptp6 ana ne
Is down in his paradise among the gods
and flowers. He will be happy awhile, but
there is hell beyond with tortures I'M
utterable
Opium I'm Cigarettes.
1t is a known fact that cigarettes invar1a-
bly, contain certain narcotic poisons, each
brand containing percentage Of the same
or different variety of narcotics. Opium is
the one most generally used. while Indian
hemp, atrophia, and others are frequently
used. After becoming habituated to the
narcotic In their favorite brand. the Cigar
cite hend' VIII use no other. Cigarette
smoking is. in fact. but another form of
hitting the pipe" as opium smoking is
termed. The almost universal desire for
some stimulant or narcotic by the human
race Is Illustrated by the remarkable in
crease in the sale of opium in its various
forms in prohibition states.
Strange as IL may seem, The Star man
learned from the proprietor of the opium
Joint that at least 100 men and women of
Washington are addicted To the opium
habit, number of them being of the higher
classes.
Opium smoking is a vice less easy of de-
lection than alcoholic intoxication, which II
is said to replace. where law and GUS
tom have made the latter disreputable. IN
like alcohol, IL does not induce vicious in
sanity, which so often leads to murder or
suicide. but rather ends up in idiotic slug
gishness.
Hasheesh.
This cannot be said of a drug called has
heesh. which is q preparation Of Indian
hemp. 1t Is used a great deal among the
Ottomans. The leaves Of this plant are cook
ed in honey to extract the active resinous
portion. and this they eat as We would gum
drops. The first smokers and eaters Of has
heesh were called hasheeshins, from which
our word assassin" Is derived. and the
custom was first practiced in the days Of
the Crusaders by a powerful enemy of
theirs called the Old Man Of the Mountain.
He obtained the most implicit obedience
from many followers by supplying them
with the drug. Its effect on the system is
remarkable. While 1t allows it's victim to
be sensible to what is passing around. 1t in
tensifies sensations and enlarges and ex-
pands to a most miraculous degree the OBJ
Jects by which the person under its in
huence Is surrounded. Thus a few yards
seems a stretch of desert, and a tree is
magntfed into a forest Persons who are in
the habit of using this drug usually termi-
mate their existence as lunatics, and since
the French have had Algeria, their insane
hospitals have been filled with the victims
of hasheesh.
Whatever We may say concerning the
justice demands that we bear In mind the
fact that the drug was forced upon them by
the English. The historian marks its in
PRODUCTION into China one of the saddest
incidents of its history. In 1773, about the
time that the people of Boston were throw
ing British tea into the harbor, the East
India Company were disposing of their first
small venture Of opium at Canton. These
men had found that chest Of opium In