On the uses of narcotics and stimulants and their effects on the human constitution / by Kanny Loll Dey.

Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the uses of narcotics and stimulants and their effects on the human constitution / by Kanny Loll Dey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    The fire for burning is made by igniting short sticks of the same materials with which ticca and hooka gools are made. These sticks are called batty. The tongs with which these sticks are ignited are called futky lutky, and the chums who meet together in the shops for the purpose of smoking address each other by the name of iarro or friend. I have omitted one fact in connection with the arrange- ments for gooly smoking. It is indispensable that the smokery immediately after the indulgences, should have some edible by his side to improve his taste. For this purpose he always provides himself with a cup of sherbet or some bits of sugarcane or fruits. There are many with whom even this simple arrangement is an incon-» venience. For them small bits of common cork are soaked in sherbet and they suck one or two of these corks at a time. One or two pice often suffice to purchase as much gooly as is necessary for one indulgence. Not having had any opportunities of coming in contact witb a habitual chundoo smoker, I can give no idea of its effects on those who indulge in it. But a gooly-smoker, as we daily see him, is an ugly beast, whatever his rank of life may be; for it must be borne in mind that the shops are resorted to as much by men better born and better bred as by those of the lowest grades of society. A gooly-smoker has a lean haggard appearance, with sunken eyes blackened all round, and a protu- berant belly, while the bones of the whole frame seem staring you in the face. Generally, an opium-smoker may be distinguished by his black eyes, blackened lips, and a thick voice. It is said that opium imparts energy to the man, makes him active and conversable. I cannot do better than quote some intelli- gent Europeans who have left on record their unbiassed opinions on the effects of this drug. Some of these, it may be remarked, were no lovers of the drug. Dr. Christison, the most impartial writer on this subject, and who always condemns this and other similar drugs, says that its common effect is to remove torpor and Sluggishness and to make the opium-consumer in the eyes of his friends an active and conversable man. Another writer, who speaks' from personal experience, comparing opium with wine, thus con- cludes his observations : “ Wine robs a man of his self-possession, opium greatly invigorates it; wine unsettles and clouds the judgment anil gives a preternatural brightness and a vivi exaltation to the contempts and admirations, the loves _ and hatred of the drinkers: opium, on the contrary, communicates serenity and equipoise to all the faculties, active or passive;
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