The results, therefore, of a collection of statistical information carefully arranged for Singapore, one of the most inveterate of opium localities, should, on comparison with the results obtained from other quarters, show that the per centage of deaths is greater, the per centage of births less; the per centage of criminals higher, and of suicides larger, in this population of opium-smokers, than in any other equally conditioned country in which opium is indulged, or it is not proven that the habit tends to shorten life, decrease production, increase crime, and induce suicide, all of which charges have been made against it. With this evidence we are not at present satisfactorily supplied. That opinion has an influence, though probably only a minor one, on moral and social development, is not to be denied. Because man is so entirely a creature of relation, that nothing is unimportant to him. “If the movements of the remotest star that glitters in the heavens affect those of our earth, assist in determining its position in space, its climate, its productions, and thus influence the lot of man, who is the creature of these circumstances; what combinations subsisting upon the surface of the earth, or developing themselves in the bosom of society, can be deemed wholly indifferent to his conduct, and without power over his well being and happiness?” If, as Dr. Lyon Playfair recently noticed, it is worthy of observation, that the character of the nations through which Dr. Livingstone passed in his recent travels, depended upon the habits of the people, in the acquisition of their food, as well as upon the food itself, we may expect to find opium exerting also its influence. If, for instance, the Kaffirs who lived by hunting, and were flesh-eaters, were wild and warlike; and the Wampoos, who lived principally on grain, were of a more quiet and peaceable disposition. Then again, the Bechuanos, who lived upon grain, were more civilized than the Kaffirs, and the Macololas, who combined as their food both grain and flesh, did not lose the warlike character, and made incursions upon their more feeble neighbours. It was an axiom amongst the latter people, that if it were not for the gullet (alluding to their appetites) there would be no war or fighting amongst mankind. In those parts, such as Loando, where the people lived upon starchy varieties of food, they had become diminutive in their stature; and this applied not merely to the natives, but also to the Portuguese settlers there, for they had lost the physical characters of their ancestors, and had become feminine in their frames and habits, and this extended even to their handwriting. Where more nitrogenous food was taken, the physical character of the people had not undergone that very marked change. If food exerts this influence upon the people of a country or district, we cannot doubt that any habit, such as smoking tobacco or opium, chewing betel or coca, must