The morning journal-courier., 1908-12-11


 certain that it has been cultivated in Asia Minor for at least three thousand years There Is mo evidence that the plant was cultivated in more ancient times in Egypt although in Piuy's time tho Egyptians used the juice ot the poppy incidentally. fn the Middle Ages it was, and in our own day it is, one of the chief objects Of cultivation in that country, especially for the man ufacturo of opium.
 The cultivated variety ? somniferum of the present day differs from the wild P setIgerum in having the seed cap sule surmounted by ten or twelve sUs mas Ohe free ends of the leaves which are united to form the capsue), instead of by eight as In the wild form, It seems that the introduction of the pop py from the shores of the MedIter- ranean into Persia, India, and China, Is due tO Arab traders, and is coIncidenr with tho rise Of Mohammedanism and 1t Is probable that 1t was valued and cultivated from that time onwards, not so much for the sake of it's seed and oil, as for the narcotic juice which was made up by Arabian "confectoners" into a kind of paste and eaten, as were other vegetable extracts such as bang" from hemp for the sake of the peasurabe effects produced by its poisonous action on the nervous Sys- tenn, It Is certain that the opium pop py does not occur at all in tho wild state in the Middle and Far East. Tn l5l6 opium was already an article of trade from India to China The poppy was cultivated and the use of opium known and frequent in India for some ! five centuries before that date Prob ably the cultivation of the plant in China was not started until the 18th century
 It was the Chinese who hit upon the mode of lndulging in opium hy smoking it in pipe. There Is no record written or pictorial earlier than ! l730, about fifty years before which i date G6S0l we find the smoking of 1 tobacco represented on Chinese pot l tery. Very soon the Chinese were not content to import their opium from l India, but large areas we're put under Icultlvation with the Indian poppy in ! China and Manchurla For century or more the export of opium from ln- | dia to China continued and increased as the consumption of the drug inc creased the native Chinese production not being sufficient to meet the de- | mo ,,l T, I t' |, Ia, | government issued edicts forhddinG the smoking Of opium, and in the last century the efforts of the Chinese au- l thorltlns to prevent tho Importation of l Indian opium whether with a view to suppress a dangerous vice or to favor l the home grown article. led to war i with England. In some parts of Chi | ma, for instance, Annoy three fourths | of the population are or were until I lately, opium smokers Now t s be- lioved that tho Chinese government Is 1 genuinely determined to put stop to ! the dangerous and encryatIng indal- l gencc in thls narcotic, and the opium growers of India will have to limit l their output, and employ their land and labor for other crops
 It is the fact that the eating of opium Cfor t is not smoked" t1erel does very iNle harm in India since t ! is not used by large proportion uf 1 the people nor in excess Many per- sons who have studied tho subject maintain that the wldcly-spread in- l jury caused by opium in China is due 1 tO tho short time during which it has been In use there as compared with i India. II is held that tho population after few centuries becomes immune to such poisonous hut attractive in- dulgencies hy the killing out Of those who cannot resist excess and the suggestion is that tho simplest way of dealing with such cravings for poison 1 is to lot those who have them and cannot resist their demand freely ln- dulgo and die and their stock with them This is. however, 8 slow and tedious way of eradicating an evil tendency lt may perhaps, he the only way. and hereafter, when tho production by careful and restricted
 
 ulation becomes recognized as being part of the duty of the makers and administrators of the law in civilized states, lt Is not improbable that we shall see something of the kind delib- orately put into practice.
 The oplum-pIpc and the mode of smoking at present in usc in China are very different from the pipe and smoking of tobacco used there or elsewhere investigated the matter myself twenty years ago in an opium den near tho London Docks, under tho instruction of a polite Chlnaman, The opium pipe has a very narrow cavity, about One-si&th of an inch wide. The prepared opium, in q condition resembling treaclc is smear cd on tho walls of the cavity with a pin and the pipe Is held Co lighted
 lamp, The flame draws into the pipe causes the opium to fri2zle and give off smoke. but 1t does not light and continue to burn. Each whiff which the smoker inhalcs has 10 be procured by applying the pipe to the lamp. The smoke is tastelcss, and lt requires a good deal of patience and several TO smelrings of tho inside of the pipe before the smoker begins to expert once the pleasant effects of the drug These consist in the production of q sense of perfect contentment and in- difference to all trouble and care whilst the imagination gives rose Color, or an even more alluriug aspect
 to all that one sees ar thinks of-- until a gentle sleep closes the scene
 The Chinese, having obtained the seeds, cultivated tho opium poppy and made opium before the prepared article was imported in any great quantity from India There is, of course, no doubt az 10 the injury which is done to a nouuletion hv thf