1 158
2 be found in the second volume. The abuse which the inhabit-
3 ants of India make of this poisonous drug is frequently carried
4 to such an extent that all medical assistance proves vain and
5 futile. As an example, I will mention the case of a lady
6 who poisoned herself by the excessive use of this drug, a
7 short time previously to the annexation of the Punjab. This
8 lady took poppy juice mixed with oil, which is the usual
9 method adopted when they wish to baffle medical assistance.
10 Her motive for committing suicide, was jealousy, her husband
11 having another wife, whom she believed to enjoy the love
12 of her consort in a higher degree than herself. The magistrate,
13 on hearing of the circumstance, requested me to attend her.
14 An hour had passed since she had taken the opium, and I
15 found her in the full possession of her senses, which she
16 retained up to her last moment. She was sitting on her
17 bed, and related to me calmly what she had done. In order
18 to lose no time, I began to administer some remedies, and
19 ordered her to be conveyed to my hospital. But she was past
20 all remedy, and after having been for twenty-fours in a sitting
21 posture she fell back dead, as if struck by apoplexy ; she
22 had previously complained of feeling severe pains in her limbs,
23 and requested her son to pinch them continually.
24 Those who desire to abstain from the habit of taking opium,
25 or drinking the cold infusion of poppy-heads, are recommended
26 to take a large quince, and having cut away a portion, and
27 made a cavity in the centre, to weigh it, and then to
28 put in the tenth part of its weight of opium; the opening
29 is then to be filled up with the piece of quince ; and, enclosed
30 in a paste, it is placed amidst hot embers, and left until the
31 paste has become charred. The quince is then to be taken out,
32 cleaned from its burnt coat, and the remains of the opium
33 thrown away, the effective part of it having been absorbed by
34 the quince. Of this preparation they should take daily the
35 same quantity as they had been accustomed to take of opium.
36 At Bokhara I saw a hakim of Kashgar, who acquired some
37 reputation for his skill in curing opium-eating, which he per-