Excerpt from What Is the Opium Trade? As so little is known by the public generally on the subject of the trade in Opium with China, and as erroneous and exaggerated views have been put forth in the absence of correct information, it is hoped that the following plain statement of facts may not seem uncalled for at the present time. The first inquiry which naturally suggests itself is, - What is opium-smoking, for which this extensive trade exists? Opium-smoking, then, is not, as some suppose, similar to tobacco-smoking, where the smoke is merely taken into the mouth and forthwith puffed out again. In the case of opium, the fumes are inhaled into the lungs by a deep-drawn breath, and retained as long as possible. There they "act on the nervous fibres that are spread over the extensive membrane which lines every cell of the lung," and the effect of this process on the human system is even more injurious than that of eating opium. In proof of this it may be stated, that the regular smoker in China arrives at the same stage of delirium by the use of about one-third of what is required by a regular opium-eater in Turkey. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.

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