‘Why, let me ask you, sir: would you like to return to such a time when men had to have their teeth pulled and their limbs sawn off without benefit of any palliative to ease the pain?’ ‘Why no,’ said Neel, with a shudder. ‘I certainly wouldn’t.’ ‘I thought not,’ said Mr Burnham. ‘So you would do well to bear in mind that it would be well nigh impossible to practise modern medicine or surgery without such chemicals as morphine, codeine and narcotine – and these are but a few of the blessings derived from opium.
