In my last lecture I dealt with the fallacy that the poppy is not
indigenous to China, but has recently been introduced there presumably by
British agency, and that opium smoking in China was confined to a small
percentage of the people, which had been steadily increasing since the
introduction into China of Indian opium.
I now proceed to discuss fallacy number 3, which is, that "_opium smoking
is injurious to the system, more so than spirit drinking_." I think I
shall be able to show most clearly that exactly the reverse is the case.
With this it will be convenient to take fallacy number 5, which is a
kindred one, namely, that "_opium smoking and opium eating are equally
hurtful_." This fallacy lies at the root of the opium controversy, for it
alone has enabled the Anti-Opium agitators to give plausibility to their
teaching and to obtain some hold, as they lately had, upon the public
mind. There is, in truth, about as much difference in the two practices as
there is between drinking, say, a pint of ardent spirits and bathing the
surface of one's body with the same stimulant. Before proceeding further,
it may be stated that opium is admitted by physicians in all countries to
be an invaluable medicine, for which there is no known substitute. Mr.
Storrs Turner says that from the time of Hippocrates to the present day it
has been the physician's invaluable ally in his struggles against disease
and death.