Consumption Of Narcotics

Some curious statistics as to the consumption of narcotice and stinwlants by the worlJ in general are given in a late report oï Mr. Jez Killebrew, the Commissioner of Agriculture in Tonneasee. Paraguay tea, it is computed, is used by 10,000,000 human beings, coca by 10,000,000, chicory by 40,000,000, cocoa by 50,000,000, and coffee by 100,000,000. i The consumera of betel are set down at I 100,000,000, those of hasheesh at 300,000,000, and those of opinm in oue or anotherform at 400,000,000. These I ures are, however, eclipsed by the portions of the demand íor Chiuese tea, whichis said to bc used by half a billion; ' while the consumers of tobáceo are not i only still more widely distributed, but present the nstoniehing aggregate of 800,000,000. Acoording to a careful estimate prepared for this report, tobáceo is ni're generally nsed tliau any other single article of commerce consumed by man. The United States in 1860 produced more than 430,000,000 pounds of tobáceo, but ten years afterward the yield of the plantations had dwindled to about 260,000,000. The report does uot state the exact quantity grown in any subsequent year: but it seeni3 that tho exporta alone in 1875 reached about 220,000,000 pouuds, valnedat more thau $25,000,000. Ac?ording to the United States Bureau of Sfatistics, leaf tobáceo, valued at nearly 29,000,000, was sent out of ihe coantry in the year endiüg June 30, 1877. These figures would make tobáceo rank sixth in the list of exported staples from the United States - cotton, breadstuffs, petroleum and the precious metáis alone excecding it in iniportance.