- cerned as a medical witness,—that of Sir W. Forbes and company
against the Edinburgh Life Assurance Company. The late Earl of Mar effected insurances on his life to a large amount while addicted to the vice of opium-eating; which was not made known at the time to the insurance company. He died two years afterwards of jaundice and dropsy. The company refused payment, on the ground that his lordship had concealed from them a habit which tends to shorten life; and Sir W. Forbes and company, who held the policy of insurance as security for money lent to the earl, raised an action to recover payment.
In consequence of inquiries made on this occasion, I became for the first time aware of the frequency of the vice of opium-eating among both the lower orders and the upper ranks of society; and at the same time satisfied myself, that the habit is often easily concealed from the most intimate friends,—that physicians even in extensive practice seldom become acquainted with such cases,—that the effects of the habit on the constitution are not always what either professional persons or the unprofessional would expect,—and generally that practitioners and toxicologists possess little or no precise information on the matter. In what is about to be offered on the subject, some facts will be stated which appear to me interesting, and may induce others to contribute their knowledge towards filling up so important a blank in medico-legal toxicology.
The general impression is, that the practice of opium-eating injures the health and shortens life. But the scientific physician in modern times has seen so many proofs of the inaccuracy of popular impressions relative to the operation of various agents on health and longevity,[1] that he will not allow himself to be hastily carried along in the present instance by vague popular belief. The general conviction of the tendency of opium-eating to shorten life has obviously been derived in part from the injurious effects which opium used medicinally has on the nervous system and functions of the alimentary canal,—and partly on the reports of travellers in Turkey and Persia, who have enjoyed opportunities of watching the life and habits of opium-eaters on a great scale. The statements of travellers, however, are so vague that they cannot be turned to use with any confidence in a scientific inquiry. Chardin, one of the earliest (1671) and best of modern travellers in Turkey, merely says the opium-eater becomes rheumatic at fifty, and "never reaches an extreme old age;"[2] and his successors have seldom been more precise,—no one having given information as to the diseases which it tends to engender. By far the greater number of authorities, however, agree in representing the practice to be hurtful. Mr. Madden, a recent and professional authority, even alleges that it is very rare for an opium-eater at Constantinople to outlive his thirtieth year, if he began the practice early.
