of the Farming
system,
but Sir C. Smith proposes certain reforms
which I will notice later on.
Owing to the necessity to increase
Alas! the dose (in order to produce the same effect) the longer the smoker indulges in the habit - is a theory
by no means confined to Missionaries
of the Anti-Opium Society, but is
held by many Doctors, who have
studied the question in China, & Physician to
who are attached to Embassy, Peking, not to exaggerate
in a recent book on
is noticed
that
free from the two tendencies
are inherent
in persons connected with Missionary Societies, and on the other hand
beneficial. If the habit has a thing
Both Governors begin by
expressing dissent from them, expressing the opinion that opium smoking
as carried on by the Chinese in these two colonies generally has not been injurious to the smokers either physically or morally; and an attempt is made to prove that though opium eating is injurious, opium smoking (in moderation) is quite harmless, or even
The further allegation is made
that in the large majority of smokers do as a matter of fact, smoke in moderation
These views have been regularly put forward by Dr. Agnew, the Colonial Surgeon of Hong Kong, in his Annual Medical Reports for many years past — but I think they have been supported more by vague expressions of his opinion than by solid scientific proof.
Doctors, in this as in other matters, of course differ very widely in their opinions; but the theory,
of
in the course
Opium Smoking
in a way
has been
that
is injurious, quite distinct from spirit drinking - viz.
because the habit in all cases tends to become excessive
with so many backsliding and thrifty as it
in (a squal degree) in persons
connected with Governments officially
that are
financially interested in
the Opium Traffic
The Enclosures in Sir C. J. Smith's despatch now
before
44/
throws
an interesting light on this side of the question: for Major McCallum (par. 4 of Memo. Conf. 69) and O'Brien (par. 20 on p. 76) speak strongly against Opium smoking being "injurious in the degree". (It is actually proposed by the Governor to exclude Malays from the Smoking shops in future, and to admit male Chinese
.68
On the other hand it is contended