Anonymous

“ Crime too often follows the destitution caused by opium-smoking; for at all costs opium must be had. Thefts, robberies, or even murders may result. The wretched culprit may have to flee from justice, or to make his escape from a neighbourhood which will no longer tolerate him. The very dogs pursue him. Probably the bucket in which the wanderer carries his pipe, and the labourer’s hat slung behind him, are both stolen. Some cave among the hills may shelter him, or the rocks may shield him from the cutting wind.
No. 11.
The downward course of the opium-smoker is now very rapid. ”

“ Wealth and property have gone, clothes and respectability have gone, home and health have gone, and what remains? Ah, what indeed! There is a ruined soul in that poor, heartless, wrecked body, almost beyond the possibility of salvation. ”

“ Exposure to the weather and want of food accelerate the injurious effects of the opium. No one would think of giving a night’s shelter to a man whose imperious craving for opium would compel him to rob his benefactor before morning. ”

“ The hold of the pipe is already established; interest, duty, affection, reputation—all prove too feeble to arrest the downward career of the smoker. Sad indeed is the prospect; the husband is already doomed to poverty, shame, and an early grave ”

“ A resident missionary writes:—
“It is estimated that six or seven out of every ten men you meet are addicted to the habit of opium-smoking, and a larger proportion of women than I have seen in any other city. There are about 400 retail opium-shops, and seventy or eighty wholesale dealers.”
It is probable that these cities exceed the average number of opium-smokers throughout the city population in China; indeed, had not the number been extraordinary, the estimate would probably not have been made, but if the number be reduced by one-half, we have still 30 per cent. ”

“ It is easy to imagine the feelings of the unfortunate wife, who, seeing the misery and wretchedness wrought in her once comfortable home, determines to destroy the whole of the smoking apparatus. The tray and lamp are dashed upon the floor, a few more moments will see the destruction of the pipe itself ”

“ It has insured in every case within my knowledge the steady descent, moral and physical, of the smoker, and it is so far a greater mischief than drink, that it does not, by external evidence of its effect, expose its victim to the loss of repute which is the penalty of habitual drunkenness. ”

“ Either the habit must at once and for ever be given up, or all hope of retaining possession of the ancestral property must be lost. The very graves of the ancestors join, as it were, in the last appeal of the weeping wife and mother, and of the weeping child, whose hopes of education, of literary advancement, and thus of promotion to office, are destroyed by the baneful narcotic. ”

“ THE EXTENT OF OPIUM-SMOKING IN
CHINA.
In the absence of an official census, we can only select the most reliable evidence to be had on the subject.
J. Dudgeon, Esq., M.D., C.M., of the Peking Mission Hospital, estimates that of the male population in China generally, probably 30 to 40 per cent. smoke opium; of the general city population, 40 to 60 per cent. ”