OCR Text |
Show HIGH SCHOOL Pen Efforts OPIUM From somewhere back In the civilization civil-ization of ancient Egypt and China to the present day, the story of the poppy spins a thread of interest to all man kind. It is a great secret of mother nature which causes both smiles and tears, relieves untold sufferings, suf-ferings, yet causes untold misery. The poppy was first mentioned In the Odyssey of Homer having been received by Helen of Troy from the wife of Thor, King of Egypt. Chinese physicians according to records were acquainted with the medical value of opium, but the Arabians Ara-bians long before that had discovered discover-ed that it would cure pain and aid sleep. It was they who said the gift was given the world by Ceras, the goddess of harvests and symbol of night and sleep. In the third century B. C. opium must have played an important part, for one physician said, "Medicine would be a one armed man without it; there is no pain cure that meets ; half way with it. 1 Chemists later began studying it. ' A German chemist discovered the narcotic principle of opium. He named morphium from Morphneis, ; "God of Dreams." After his discov- ery many other chemists got busy i and found out twenty or more forms of the drug. In Asia Minor opium is grown in highest medical quality. May and July is harvest time for the dope. The poppy is first in full bloom. Then the petals drop quickly. The j green soon goes out of the poppy and harvest begins. There is no law in China in regard re-gard to the Dope racket. It isn't' anything over there to see a man f walking up the street under the in-1 fluence of the drug, but in the Unit- J ed States, it is considered one of the ' worst things to see a man whom we : call a dope fiend in the town. The ! Chinamen who can get all the drugs they want try to send it to their less fortunate friends in America. One, physician who had a brother over here, tried to send dope over in J clocks. He would take out all tho lnsides and slip a few bottle of dope inside and send it over here. The clocks kept coming. The revenue officers thought it very funny for this man to send so many packages, and they began to investigate more close-! ly and found a large windmill clock, all done in fancy colors and very( bulky for such a clock.- They took' it apart and found twenty-five hnnd- red dollars worth of dope. The man . in America was selling it. The opium idea is slowly being ' stamped out and Pantopon will take ' its place. One grain of Pantopon' represents 3 grains of opium, but it can be taken and no ill effect will be' caused. All the hospitals are giving it before an operation, for it kills thei pain and not so much ether is used j to send them off. If this takes the j place of dope, the world will he j benefited because the dope fiends will all be gone. Barbara Johnson |