“But the main distinction is this, that whereas wine disorders the mental faculties, opium, on the contrary (if taken in a proper manner), introduces amongst them the most exquisite order, legislation, and harmony. Wine robs a man of his self-possession; opium greatly invigorates it. Wine unsettles and clouds the judgement, and gives a preternatural brightness, and a vivid exaltation to the contempts and the admirations, the loves and hatreds, of the drinker; opium on the contrary, communicates serenity equipoise to all the faculties, active or passive: and with respect to and moral feelings in general, it gives simply that sort of vital warmth which is approved by the judgement, and which would probably always accompany a bodily constitution of primeval or antediluvian health.”
Thomas De Quincey, “Confessions of an English Opium Eater”, 1822.
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