Opium.Smoking in America and China. By H. H. Kane, M.D.
(G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.)—Dr. Kane, with the character- istic devotion of medical science, has made many interesting experi- ments of the action of opium on himself, has watched them when made on others, and hat; thus accumulated a great amount of first- hand practical knowledge of the subject. He commends himself to his readers by his unvarying moderation of tone and candour. He has not found that opium-smoking is certain ruin to body and soul. Some men seem to practise it without noticeable injury. But he tells us quite enougt to make it certain that, for the average subject, it is a deleterious, and may become a ruinous habit. At first, it gives. "a happiness and a freedom from care that nothing else could give." But this Elysian condition endures only for a time. "It may last a year, in rare cases two years, but more often only a few months." Dr. Kane has some severe censures, which it is not easy to rebut, upon our action as a country in the matter of the Chinese opium. trade,
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