opium

Solanaceous plants and their properties; The thorn-apple of India; The Florispondio of Peru; Its superstitious uses; Indulgence therein in New Granada; Effects of thorn-apple on the Jamaica soldiers; Origin of Belladonna; Its effects as a p…

12 Diodorus Siculus states that the Egyptians laid much stress on the circumstance that the plant used by Helen had been given her by a woman of Egyptian Thebes, whence they argued that Homer must have lived amongst them, since the women …

omiting up bile, fell down dead. Attempts to unravel the mysteries of this plant have ended, in some cases at least, in referring it to the belladonna, a plant common enough in these our days, and known to possess poisonous properties of a …

That opium is the milky juice of the capsules of a species of poppy, evaporated by exposure to light and air, is a fact so well known, as scarce to require repetition. This species of poppy contains two well marked varieties, the black and …

ried and used medicinally by the Chinese. In the third operation, the dissolved opium being reduced to the consistence of treacle, is seethed over a fire of charcoal, of a strong and steady, but not fierce temperature, during which time i…

. Sometimes these balls are so soft as to burst their skins, when much of the liquid opium is lost. The quantity of opium produced annually in Bengal exceeds five millions of pounds, and the income derived by the Hon. East India Company fro…

goongee.” The most common kind is called “barsh” or “berch.” There is one kind which, it is said, makes the person who takes it manifest his pleasure by singing, another which will make him chatter, a third which excites to dance, a fourth …

n betimes to carry their juniors, who ride astride on the said projections. The usefulness of them consists in enabling the mothers to work with their infants in this way on their backs , while in England they excuse themselves from work on…

of one hundred will about fill a very old-fashioned obsolete teaspoon, of that order which you find still lingering amongst the respectable poor. Eighty such quantities, therefore, would have filled eighty of such antediluvian spoons, that …

rary character, about fifty years of age, has taken laudanum for twenty-five years, with occasional short intermissions, and sometimes an enormous quantity, but enjoys tolerable bodily health. A lady about fifty-five, who enjoys good health…

a half are all that can be calculated upon. The number which Johnston estimates as the proportion of the human race using opium is four hundred millions, or about half the number of those who indulge in tobacco. This is, perhaps, as near an…

He sinks gently against the cushion set at his back, and becomes insensible to what is passing around. The pipe is passed round from mouth to mouth, so that half an hour generally intervenes between the first whiff taken by the first smoker…

ut in half, and of the hardness of wax. It is then placed over the orifice in the head of the pipe, like a small chimney, through which the flame of the lamp is drawn into the bowl, converting the opium, in its passage, into a blue smoke, w…

“Thou only givest these gifts to man; and thou hast the keys of Paradise, O just, subtle, and mighty opium.”—— Confessions of an Opium-Eater. According to the common opinion of the Arabs, there are seven heavens, one above another. The up…

“‘Things Seen for the first time, and things, long ago Seen, which he ne’er again shall see, do blend Strangely and brokenly with ghastly things Such as we hear in childhood, scorn in youth, And doubt in manhood, save when seen.’”…

s if they would soon be prostrated too. The next day, the first of the group lay dead and stiff, with a coarse mat wound round his body for a shroud. The rest were lying down unable to rise. The third day another was dead, and the remainder…

Dr. Madden tried, experimentally, the effects of opium—he commenced with a grain, which produced no perceptible effect, to this he afterwards added another grain. After two hours from commencing the operation, his spirits became excited. “M…

petition presented on one occasion to the Emperor, it is believed that the English, by introducing opium into that country, did so as a means of its subjugation, presuming, we may suppose, that the Celestials were invincible, except by some…

ulge in journeys thither, may be imagined from the notorious fact, that in Bristol, Coleridge went so far as to hire men—porters, hackney-coachmen, and others—to oppose by force his entrance into any druggist’s shop. But as the authority fo…

nt to the heaven of heavens. What are the true effects of opium are best 151 described by an eminent physician, who has studied well the results produced by all such influences upon the brain. The imagination appears to be acted upon, ind…

156 We cannot understand this fascination in which opium holds its devotee to its full extent; and yet, in some sort, the lover of tobacco, deprived of his pipe or quid, can in some sort understand it better than any other Englishman, the…

of all that ever entered the paradise of opium-eaters, can have had half the pleasure I had. But, indeed, I honour the barbarians too much, by supposing them capable of any pleasures approaching to the intellectual ones of an Englishman. A …

d according to his facilities for selling it so is the price. If the shop is to be opened in town, where there are more customers, and if near to where Chinese artificers abound, then he pays about eight shillings a tael (1⅓ oz.), or at the…

nds, from a hovel to a brick house of two stories, for which £3 monthly is paid for rent. Generally speaking, the luxury of the pipe is all that the smoker cares for, and all other things, such as commodious apartments, elegant furniture, a…

The night side of opium-eating and smoking must be seen, as well as the bright and sunny day, before we lavish upon it encomiums, such as some of its votaries have indulged in. There may be a paradise to which the Theriaki can rise, but the…

e devoted to the drug. Shoemakers, tailors, and bakers, are generally less addicted to the habit; amongst the two first-named, not more than twenty per cent. are smokers. Wherever you have carpenters, blacksmiths, &c., in abundance, there w…

The “dream fugue” of the author of the “confessions” is a day dream—a splendid one—but the type of many another dream, perhaps, that had coursed through the mind of its writer while under the influence of the subtle drug. One might almost v…

ly three drachms of crude opium. The visible effects at the time were the sparkling eyes and great exhilaration of spirits. He found the desire of increasing his dose growing upon him. He seemed twenty years older than he really was—his com…

nd eyelids, langour and lack lustre of eye; appetite either destroyed or depraved. In the morning these creatures have a most wretched appearance, evincing no symptoms of being refreshed or invigorated by sleep, however profound. There is a…

ng the facts, adds, “they would certainly tend on the whole rather to show that the practice of eating opium is not so injurious, and an opium-eater’s life not so uninsurable, as is commonly thought.” The result of the above-named trial was…

ircumstances were being detailed? How was it possible that, with an income of only 12s. 6d., he could spend £1 5s.? The answer was a graphic one and much to the point:——“What am I in here for?” Of course, the tenants of a jail can account f…

quantities ranging from twelve to one hundred and eighty grains per day. The same jail was again visited, and the prisoners examined a month afterwards, several fresh criminals had entered, others had been enlarged. At this time, there were…

ount, that is, the moral affections are in a state of cloudless serenity, and high over all, the great light of the majestic intellect.” It is not to be wondered at that the abuse of opium should be a fertile source of poverty, when so mu…

he victim of ardent spirits commits his crimes while under their influence; the devotee to opium, while under its influence, is at peace with all mankind, and dreams only of his own happiness. The drunkard, when not under the influence of l…

e for sleep until twelve or two in the morning, when he falls into disturbed slumbers, which last till eight or nine. When he awakes, his head is giddy, confused, and painful—his mouth is dry, he has great thirst, he has no appetite, can ne…

the entire national character, it is only one of many influences. Let the Papuan stand beside the Chinaman and the Turk, and in spite of opium, the Papuan standard will exhibit a woeful short-coming. The waters of the great Amazon river mus…

who is the creature of these circumstances; what combinations subsisting upon the surface of the earth, or developing themselves in the bosom of society, can be deemed wholly indifferent to his conduct, and without power over his well being…

liquors. The question for determination is not what are the effects of opium used to excess, but what are its effects on the moral and physical constitution of the mass of the 197 individuals who use it habitually, and in moderation, either…

Keep the promise to the lip And break it with the heart. The first sophistication, says Pereira, which opium receives, is that practised by the peasants who collect it, and who lightly scrape the epidermis from the shells or capsules to …

The lacticiferous or milk bearing plants are nearly all of them connected by very important ties with man and civilization. The phenomena themselves are well worthy of study, and their 205 association with humanity replete with interest. Th…

The plant is common in Jamaica and some other of the West Indian islands. It is an elegant climber, bearing bright scarlet blossoms, somewhat resembling a passion flower. Browne says, that the flowers are principally employed, and when infu…

According to Dr. Eatwell, the grosser impurities usually mixed with the drug to increase its weight are mud, sand, powdered charcoal, soot, cow dung, pounded poppy petals, and pounded seeds of various descriptions. All these substances are …

roportions to the opium. In fact, this most valuable drug, certainly one of the most important, and most frequently used in medicine, is also one of the most extensively adulterated.” Dr. Landerer has described an adulteration of a sample…

d as much of the pleasures of paradise—which the prophet has promised to the blessed—as his strength would admit, after quaffing enervating delight from the eyes of the houris and intoxicating wine from the glittering goblets, he sank into …

In Asia Minor an extract from the Indian hemp has been from time immemorial swallowed with 232 the greatest avidity, as the means of producing the most ecstatic delight, and affording a gratification even of a higher character than that whi…

The widely distributed race of Malays, occupy not only the Malayan Peninsula, and, though not exclusively, the islands of the Indian Archipelago, but has penetrated into Madagascar, and spreads itself through the islands of the Pacific from…

263 In Virginia, tobacco was at one period used as a currency at a fixed value per pound. In Peru, the labourer is paid in coca, and in the Philippines, betel rolls have been used in the same manner as a currency. To the Malay it is as im…

ce between them and those of vegetable origin, for although the same eminent physician is of opinion that tobacco may be indulged in without injury, he does not believe such a possibility to exist with regard to mercury and arsenic. 32 Th…

“The virtues of the noble metals are, moreover, of such a nature that they inspire respect even in those who do not seek these qualities in higher spheres, but ask after the common and every-day usefulness of a thing.”—— Von Kobell. Some …

in pursuit of fish, which are then found hybernating among stones at the piers of bridges. We perceive with regret, that the modern Chinese have added arsenic to their habitual stimulants. The red sulphuret in powder is mixed with tobacco, …

gives an account of nine persons who were nearly poisoned by eating the roots of henbane. The effects of this poison were horrible in the extreme; in five, out of the nine, it produced raving madness. The madness of all these was so complet…

of this fungus, is the place it occupies as a substitute for those narcotics known in other parts of the world, and which an ungenial northern climate fails to produce. What the coca is to the Bolivian, and opium to the Chinese—the areca to…

Geneva, in London, experience the liberties those take who “suck the monkey,” by either liberally diminishing the quantity, or diluting it with water on the road, so as to make the quantity what the quality should be. It is said that the or…

By order, have ascertained the number of inhabitants of Ting-loong-chow (east point). There are upwards of 2,500 inhabitants. The number that smoke opium merely because they like it are upwards of 300. The number that smoke opium are …

13 Lord Stanhope makes the following curious estimate:——“Every professed, inveterate, and incurable snuff-taker, at a moderate computation, takes one pinch in ten minutes. Every pinch, with the agreeable ceremony of blowing and wiping the …