The Kola-nut is used in some parts of Western Africa as a stimulant. It is about the size of a pigeon’s egg, and has a bitter taste. The natives of Guinea generally take a piece of the seeds before each meal, and sometimes nibble it throughout the day.
Kava is prepared from the root of a kind of pepper. The natives of the Fiji islands commonly indulge in it. Its effects resemble those of coffee. In large doses, it destroys the power of walking, and may possibly produce impairment of vision.
The leaves of the Ilex Paraguayense, Ilex Gongorrha, and Ilex Theezans are made into the beverage commonly known as Paraguay tea or maté.
The leaves of the Hydrangea Thunbergii are made into a beverage, which is designated in Japan “the tea of heaven.”
Among certain nations of Asia, the Betel-nut (from a palm called Areca Catechu) is chewed, after mixing small fragments with pepper and quicklime, and rolling in a palm leaf. The saliva is tinged blood-red, and a narcotic effect is said to be produced.
The dried flowering tops of the Indian Hemp (Cannabis Indica) are smoked by the Malays and others, or made into a beverage, called haschisch, which produces a kind of intoxication, in which murder has often been committed (hence, assassins equals haschascheens).
The Kamtschatkans drink an infusion made from a fungus, known as the Fly Agaric (Amanita Muscaria), thus producing an intoxication similar to that from haschisch.
Opium in small doses is a stimulant, in large doses narcotic. The crude drug is sometimes taken, and less frequently the active principle, Morphia. It is frequently smoked, as well as taken internally. It is to be feared that secret opium taking is considerably increasing. The taking of morphia, especially hypodermically, is too common. Generally it has been first prescribed for neuralgia or some other complaint causing acute pain; and the patient, having experienced relief by its means, is tempted to revert to the practice apart from medical advice. Such a line of action is most pernicious. Eventually both the physical and the moral nature of the victim are shattered by it; and to break off this insidious habit, when once thoroughly established, is most difficult.
Tobacco may be conveniently mentioned here, though its usual effects are certainly not stimulant. It is smoked, chewed, or taken as snuff; when indulged in to excess it produces serious depression of the heart’s action, with frequent intermittence. In moderate doses it is sedative as well as slightly laxative. Prolonged indulgence in tobacco has produced many cases of incomplete blindness (tobacco amblyopia), in some cases it comes on with much smaller doses, and in all cases is only curable by ceasing to smoke. There is no sufficient ground for the statement that cigarette smoking is more injurious than smoking tobacco in a pipe or cigar, unless in the former case the smoke is inhaled into the lungs. The practice of smoking is injurious to growing boys, and should be strictly forbidden.
Other Drugs are now not infrequently taken, apart from medical advice. Of these the most commonly used are Antipyrin and Phenacetin, for headaches. Their use is injurious, and should not be entertained as a frequent practice. Sleeplessness frequently leads to the practice of taking chloral or sulphonal, or occasionally the inhalation of chloroform to induce sleep. (See also page [259]). Remedies to induce sleep should never be taken except under immediate medical advice. They are only justifiable in extreme conditions, and if frequently taken tend to aggravate the conditions for which they are given.