2-982-622 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Opium-smoking in China - from drawings by a native artist, 1858. Fig 1. '...two partners in an opium firm superintending the operations of their workmen...Fig. 2. '...a man in the act of enjoying his pipe...The smoker reclines on a couch, his head supported on a pillow...the opium...acts at first as a pleasant and refreshing stimulant, and produces an artificial vigour, quickly, however, followed by great relaxation and listlessness. In order to produce the pleasurable effects, a constantly recurrent quantity of the drug is necessary. The habit, once formed, its evil effects do not lag behind. These are pains in the limbs and bowels, loss of appetite and memory, disturbed sleep, emaciation, horrible apprehensions and a general decay - moral and physical...At length that which was first resorted to for pleasure is sought only to relieve pain...Fig.3....our victim, having exhausted all his money, gratifies his ruinous indulgence by selling or pawning the contents of his clothes-chest...We cannot but regard it as a blot on the character of our East Indian Government that for purposes of revenue it should be engaged in cultivating and selling a drug which, invaluable as a medicinal agent, is so antagonistic to all who employ it as an indulgence'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.