He then tried smoking a pipe of the prepared
drug every day, without feeling any ill effects what-
ever ; there was, he declares, absolutely no difference
in his pulse or in his temperature. It was exactly
the same with several Europeans whom he per-
suaded to follow his example. " I counted the



THE 'BLACK SMOKE'



i8i



throbs of their pulse, I took their temperature, and
there was absolutely nothing abnormal about either,
although I had made them smoke twelve pipes
each." This does but prove that the effects of
opium are different with different constitutions,




FIG. 43. — OPIUM PIPES.
and that there are some who can take it even in
large quantities with impunity ; but for all that the
horrors of the so-called black smoke, and of the
opium dens of China can hardly be exaggerated,
even the Celestials themselves admitting that the
effects of the drug are injurious to health, and



i82 CHINA AND THE CHINESE

warp the better nature of those who indulge in it
to excess ; but, as already remarked, its price is
still so high that only the wealthy can afford it
in quantities likely to be hurtful. It is as difficult
for a Chinese workman to get opium as it would
be for a French peasant to buy champagne, or
an English apprentice to indulge in port-wine.
