Book excerpt: Soon to be banned in Beijing, this work suggests that Lin Zexu, often called the first modern Chinese nationalist, popular icon for present-day prohibitionists, who legend says caused the first Opium War (1839-1842) by destroying some 20,000 chests of British opium, may deserve a second look from historians. His method of using lime and salt to "destroy" the opium simply shares too many parallels with European methods for extracting morphine from opium. Morphine salts were sold in both China and Europe in the 19th century as substitutes for opium or as opium "cures". Could the mandarin Lin Zexu have stolen from the British, conned the Americans, hastened the downfall of the parasitical Manchu dynasty, and manufactured a simple morphine salt? -- Graffii Milante, Valpaaiso, Chile --from book cover.