w*f> 'jg^l it 111 VI STEPHEN J. W. TABOR. OTIl'M SIN'E UTERIS MORS EST. Hhsr*-*-^ t*V:c :»—*:&:—«"« -*l°l. S SURGEON uENERAL'S OFFICE I i Section, No. I //vsis-; 0 ^i**.-* ^^v"^" *r »*? 3*y » ^*y*?-a*5i T~T- TOBACCO; WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT DOES DAN KING, M. D. PELLOW OF THE MASS. MED. SOCIETT, LATE COMMISSIONER ON TRIALS, MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN MED. ASSOCIATION, ETC. l'V**%-. £nJ>W YORK: S. S. & W. WOOD, PUBLISHERS. 1861. K 5 TJX. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1861, By Dan Kino, In the Clerks office of the District Court of Rhode Island. PREFACE. Although many of the evils arising from the use of tobacco have been known since its first introduction into civil life, yet they appear to have been generally disre- garded by the masses, and in spite of every effort to the contrary this useless and pernicious habit has continued to spread and increase until it is found in every inhabited country on the globe ; and as all the various measures hitherto employed to arrest its progress have proved in- effectual, the only hope left appears to be in the diffusion of information among all classes, and appeals to the good sense of an intelligent and reflecting public. Al- though the noxious qualities of thb plant and its delete- rious effects upon the human system, are better under- stood at the present time than formerly, yet it must be presumed that there are many who are not fully aware of their number or magnitude ; and in view of the startling developments which are brought out-in the following pages the author has thought proper to introduce ample testimony, of the highest order, in support of every im- portant allegation. Notwithstanding the very common use of tobacco everywhere, the world is full of the most IT. reliable and positive testimony against it ; and the author has the satisfaction of knowing that if he has erred in the matter under consideration, he has erred with the wisest and best of men both at home and abroad. In preparing the following work the author has been greatly assisted by the perusal of an excellent little man- ual written by Professor Lizars of Edinburgh and recently republished in Philadelphia. The author of that work is now one of the most eminent surgeons of Europe ; it con- tains much valuable documentary information of a high order, and should be carefully studied by every young man in the United States. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTEODUCTION....................................9 CHAPTER II. The abnormal effects of tobacco.—Its poisonous principles. —Their fatal effects upon animals.—Morbid symptoms and diseases that follow its use.—Extracts from Sir Benjamin Brodie...............................13 CHAPTER IH. Tobacco induces or hurries on Consumption and Haemop- tysis.—It poisons the blood.—Kills leeches, bugs, etc.— Intoxicates the nursing infant.—Causes nervous affec- tions, Amaurosis, Deafness, etc.—Weakens the recu- perative powers.—Use of long pipes.—Tobacco Dyspep- sia.—The use of tobacco no protection against conta- gious diseases.—Death from sleeping in a room with tobacco.......................................31 VI. CHAPTER IV. Effects of tobacco upon the mind.—Men of strong intellects nave seldom made use of tobacco.—Anecdote of Napo- leon Bonaparte.—Tobacco debilitates and depraves the intellect.—Quotations from Dickens, Adam Clark, Wes- ley, Drs. Solly, Abernethy, Carlyon, and Johnson.— Amount consumed in Great Britain in a single year.— Extracts from Lizars...........................45 CHAPTER V. Smoking worse than Snuffing or Chewing.—Cigars worse than Pipes.—Snuffing nearly given up.—The earlier in life tobacco is used, the worse its effects.—Smoking a nuisance.—The cost of tobacco considered.—Danger from fires..................................... 53 CHAPTER VI. Does tobacco shorten life ? An extract, etc...........63 CHAPTER VII. The use of tobacco impairs the memory.—Anecdote of Dr1 Franklin......................................70 CHAPTER Vni. Other effects of tobacco.—Case reported by Professor Chapman.—Opinion of Dr. Wright.—Experiments upon dogs.—Argument advanced by the Nashville Medical Journal, answered.....................74 CHAPTER IX. Disorders that arise from sleeping with those who nse tobacco —Case reported by Dr. Huff of New York.— Statement of Dr. Prout.........................82 vil. CHAPTER X. Jhe effects of tobacco upon the appetite considered.— Smoking leads to drinking, and drinking to smoking.— An extract from Dr. Budgett of London..........89 CHAPTER XI. Tobacco in the same category with intoxicating liquors.— Extracts from Professor Miller, and Dr. Marshal Hall.— Nicotin employed for murder....................96> CHAPTER Xn. The free use of tobocco produces Individualism.....104 CHAPTER XIII. Mental operations checked or suspended by the use of tobacco.—Persons accu.stommed to its use seldom aban- don it.—Communication from Benjamin Silliman, M. D., LL. D.................................112 CHAPTER XIV. Tobacco a Source of revenue in France.—One evil made to support another.— Rum and tobacco as luxuries.—Do they add to the real enjoyments of life?—Early history of tobacco.—Prohibitions ineffectual.—The odious cha- racter of growing tobacco.—etc.....;............118 CHAPTER XV. Tobacco inclines the mind to Infidelity.............128 CHAPTER XVI. Drugging cigars for felonious purposes—They may be- come the medium of communicating a noisome disease. —Extracts trom Drs. Johnson and Solly, etc......137 vni. CHAPTER XVII. Considerations connected with reform..............143 CHAPTER XVIH. Miscellaneous Observations and Reflections..........161 CHAPTER XIX. Concluding Remarks............................101 TOBACCO; WHAT IT IS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. In intellectual philosophy, nothing is more difficult, than to convince men of truths against the testimony of their own senses. By observa- tions and reasoning, the ancient philosophers became convinced of the earth's rotundity, and its diurnal and annual revolutions, but the publi- cation of these discoveries, met with instantaneous and universal opposition ; besides, their supposed contradiction of scripture, the new doctrine was summarily refuted by the evidence of every man's senses — the earth was obviously a broad, horizontal expanse — day after day, and year year after year, all their lives long, all had seen the sun rise in the east, move slowly across the 10 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS heavens, and go down in the west; and against such palpable testimony, no arguments founded upon abstract principles, had any force; the world looked upon the science of astronomy as the vagaries of mad men, and treated its authors as felons. At length the dawning of science slowly dissipated the darkness of ignorance and superstition, and by degrees men began to ques- tion the testimony of their senses, and reluctantly to acknowledge the wonderful truths announced by Gallileo and his followers. Yet, although the main principles of Grecian astronomy were sus- ceptable of easy demonstration, men were slow to set aside the prima facie evidence of their own senses, and embrace the sublime truths which it brought to light. And at the present time, the chemis's, physicians, and scientific men who by their labors and observations have ascer- tained the poisonous nature of tobacco, and its deleterious effects upon mankind, are regarded much as the ancients regarded the first promul- gators of astronomy. Every one has seen AND WHAT IT DOES. 11 tobacco in constant use, all around him, his life long ; and he is not aware that any one has been poisoned, or in any manner injured by it, and therefore he believes it to be harmless. Acting upon his own brief and imperfect experience, and yielding to motives of interest or inclination, he looks with perfect conlempt upon all the evidences and arguments that scientific investi- gations can present. The march of intelligence may correct the mistakes of the senses, but the universal cupidity of mankind, which ever seeks for gain, regardless of means, and the unlimited love of animal pleasure, can only be corrected by moral considerations, the power of example, and the force of public opinion. The more the sub- ject is examined, the greater its importance appears, and the constantly increasing cosump- tion of tobacco, certainly deserves attention ; we live in the midst of tobacco fields and tobacco manufactories, and, juding from appearances, one might be led to conclude, that the chief errand of life was to smoke. Apparently regard- 12 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS less of all consequences, the habit is spread over the whole country, and communicated from pa- rents to children, generation after generation. A most virulent poison has come to be considered, not only innocent, but absolutely necessary to the common enjoyments of life, and whoever attempts to hold a parley with its devotees, if he does not find himself required to answer for his temerity before a legal tribunal, will be pretty suie to incur the most severe public censure. AND WHAT IT DOES. 13 CHAPTER II. The abnormal effects of tobacco.—Its poisonous principles. —Their fatal effects upon animals.—Morbid symptoms and diseases that follow its use.—Extracts from Sir Benjamin Brodie. Tobacco, as a luxury, is more extensively em- ployed than any other narcotic. People of all nations, of all religions, and in all conditions of society make use of it —yet it is a poison and an enemy to human life, and ever injurious to the physical and intellectual powers. We will first consider some of its most obvious effects upon the bodily organs, and then proceed to point out its influence on the mind and moral conduct. It may be said in the beginning, that in whatever way tobacco is employed, all its effects are strictly abnormal, and that it never contributes in the least tlegree to the natural requirements of the 14 TOBACCO, what it is system. Whether the individual smokes or chews, the first effect of the tobacco is that of a siala- gogue. As soon as the article comes in contact with the mucus membrane of the mouth, and fauces an increased quantity of mucus, and sa- liva is poured out to protect the nervous extrem- eties from the virulence of the poison, which would otherwise soon destroy life. This abnor- mal flow of saliva, charged with the essential oil of tobacco, must either be swallowed or spit out. If any ordinary smoker, or chewer, swallowed all his own saliva, he must inevitably die in a short time from the poison, unless it was thrown off by vomiting. Ail the impulses of his nature urge him to discharge the nauceous secretion as fast as it accumulates, and the repulsive habit of spitting, is the necessary consequence. In the course of twenty-four hours, an individual, may discharge in that way, from a* gill, to a quart, or more of saliva and mucous, impregnated with the poisonous qualities of tobacco. This is a tax upon the vital energies of the system, for which AND WHAT IT DOES. 15 it receives no equivalent. A proper quantity of healthy saliva is always necessary for a healthy digestion, and under ordinary circumstances, all, or nearly all that is secreted, should go into the stomach for this purpose. The use of tobacco increases the quantity, but vitiates the quality of that fluid, so that besides carrying a poisonous element with it, into the stomach, it is thinned, its solvent power diminished, and an imperfect di- gestion and assimilation follow as the necessary consequence. The tongue and inside of the mouth, being continually exposed to this poison- ous irritant, become of a firy red color, and when an individual has used tobacco freely, for many years, the whole prima vie exhibits a similar appearance, and in such cases fatal perforations of the stomach or intestines are not uncommon, as has been abundantly proved by anatomical examinations. The constant use of tobacco irritates the lining membrane of the mouth, and often impairs and vitiates the sense of taste ; the tongue becomes 16 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS clumsy,and as soon as the quid or cigar is thrown away, the mou»h becomes dry, and the man is thirsty, consequently those who use much tobacco generally require large quantities of drink. Thus tantalized, the individual must keep some portion of the stimulating weed constantly in his mouth, or be continually slaking his burning thirst with some kind of liquid. Beer is likely to become a favorite beverage ; and when this becomes too vapid, ale and the stronger kinds of alcoholic drinks are often resorted to, and when at last the man becomes a complete sot, he will some- times give up his tobacco wholly, ard devote himself entirely to the use of intoxicating drinks. Such has been the brief history of many an un- fortunate inebriate. Tobacco usually produces a kind of ptyalism, and the discharge from the mouth corresponds in some degree, with the quantity of liquor taken into the stomach ; this relieves the kidneys, so that the mouth is made to perform the vicarious office of the urinary organs. When tobacco is seen protruding from the lips, AND WHAT IT DOES. 17 or swelling the cheeks of almost every man and boy, in the streets, one might be led to conclude that an article so universally employed, with such perfect nonchalance, must be not only innocent, but a very desirable luxury. But it is not so; tobacco is one of the most pungent and subtle of all the vegetable poisons, and even in minute doses is capable of destroying life ; yet it is with this, as with most other narcotic poisons ; by long use, the -system becomes able to tolerate it to such an extent, that the habitual smoker, or chewer, may use in a single day a quantity suffic- ient to kill several strong men, unaccustomed to its use. Usually poisonous vegetables are found to con- tain only one active deleterious element, but chemical analysis has shown that the tobacco- plant contains three extremely poisonous princi- ples. One of tnese is a colorless liquid alkaloid called Nicotina ; it has an extremely acrid, burning taste, and is one of the most virulent of all poisons, resembling in its activity the strong- IS TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS est preparations of prussic acid. Another of the poisonous elements of this plant, is a volatile oil called Nicotianin, and the third is an unctuous sub- stance called the empyreumatic oil of tobacco. All of these are acrid poisons of the most deadly kind, and every leaf and fibre of that vegetable con- tains a portion of each one of these noxious principles, each being so very acrid and malig- nant, that it is scarcely possible to tell which is most so. The smoker imbibes more of the oil, and less of the alkaloid, whilst the chewer takes more of the latter and less of the former; either of them in their concentrated state, is quite as virulent and deadly in its effects as prussic acid. A single drop of either of the oils, put upon the tongue of a cat, kills her in two minutes ; if a fowl be pricked with a needle that has been dipped in the oil of tobacco, it flutters for an instant and then dies. A single grain of the alkaloid is suf- ficient to kill instantly the strongest mastiff. Such is the deadly nature of an article used without stint or measure, by all classes and con- AND WHAT IT DOES. 19 ditions, the young and the old, rich and poor, bond and free. But in order more distinctly to understand its toxical properties, we must no- tice its effects when taken in moderate doses. Like many other poisons, one of the first symp- toms that follow its use, is a sensation of heat in the throat, often extending to the stomach, fol- lowed by a distressing nausea and giddiness, and if the dose is considerable, and the person wholly unaccustomed to its use, vomiting, purging and diuresis follow, attended with a death-like sinking at the pit of the stomach, and to these succeed languor and relaxation of the muscles, faintness, trembling, imperfect vision, anxiety, small weak pulse, laborious respiration, or cold clammy sweat and sometimes convulsions. These symptoms are more or less severe, according to the quantity of tobacco taken, and the circumstances and the condition of the patent; they may be of short duration, or end in torpor and death. Similar effects often follow the external use of tobacco, and in numerous instances, death has 20 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS been produced by its topical application ; and when we look upon this array of distressing symp- toms, and at the same time consider that the taste of the article is always extremely nauseous to all who are unaccustomed to its use, we are led to wonder how the article comes to be so exten- sively employed. It is with this as with most othei pernicious practices; the first beginnings are generally small, and often casual. The habit is acquired by degrees, until at length the system is brought into a condition to tolerate the noxious material, and when no more than the accustomed quantity is taken, none of the deleterious effects are experienced. It does not however by that means become innocent, or cease to injure the animal economy, but it comes to work in disguise, and whilst the mischief is secretly going on in some internal organ, the man is beguiled by a voluptious sensation excited in the brain. It is so with many other poisons ; by long use the system ceases to admonish the individual of their per- nicious tendencies. AND WHAT IT DOES. 21 In lower Austria, and some parts of India many of the inhabitants are in the daily habit of tak:ng arsenic, by smoking or otherwise, and by long use an individual becomes able to consume an incredible amount daily, with apparent impunity, but the enemy is otill at work secretly, and its fatal effects are sure to be developed at last. But no rational considerations, or legal restrictions have ever been able to suppress this pernicious practice in those countries. No one can be in the daily habit of smoking, or chewing tobacco for any considerable length of time, without suffering from its effects. For reasons already given, dyspepsia in some form or other, is a pretty common attendant on those who use much tcLacco. In technical lan- guage, it may be said, tobacco thins the saliva and the secretions of the Livet and Pancreas, and acts as a sedative upon the Pneumogastric nerves. The vitiated state of the fluids produces an imperfect digestion and assimilation, and functional or organic derangements are liable to 22 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS follow as the consequence. It must be observed that tobacco does not operate upon all alike. Owing to difference of temperament, age and condition, the symptoms that follow its use are by no means uniform, therefore what may be true in one case may not be so in others, and there will necessarily be found many exceptions to any general rule that may be laid down. With many persons the use of tobacco impairs the appetite, and it is often observed that those who use it freely eat less than others. This is not because tobacco supplies the system with any important component principle, but simply be- cause it acts as a sedative, deadens the sensibili- ty ot the nerves, and checks the elimination of effete matter from the system. Percy, an emi- nent French surgeon, says, that tobacco is as regularly served out to the French soldier as pro- visions, and remarks—" It has doubtless been calculated that tobacco hurts the appetite ; and to save daily from four to six ounces of bread, per man, they furnish him with three farthings' AND WHAT IT DOES. 23 worth of tobacco." It is undoubtedly true that the soldier who passes the whole night in the trenches of a beleaguered city, with only a dis- tant and uncertain prospect of breakfast in the morning—or the care-worn sailor contending with the elements in a storm—or the exhausted laborer after a day of unusual anxiety and fa- tigue, may derive a temporary solace from a cigar ; but the relief is only temporary and se- ductive ; such as a glass of hot sling, or even a pill of opium would impart—no permanent ele- ment is supplied to the system—no organ or tis- sue is repaired, or restored—not a particle is ad- ded to compensate for the losses which the body has sustained ; its cravings are only staunched during the operation of the beguiling sedative, to return with augmented severity as soon as that has passed away. Sir Benjamin Brodie of London, says: " A certain quantity of the oil of tobacco must be always circulating in the blood of an habitual smoker ; and when a single drop of this oil will • 24 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS kill a cat in the course of a few minutes, we cannot suppose that its effects upon the human system can be merely negative." It is not neces- sary to analyze the blood to show that it contains the oil of tobacco, as it is abundantly proved by the strong empyreumatic odor of the smoker's breath. Dr. Brodie has long been known as one of the most eminent English surgeons, and in a recent communication to the London Times, he says : " From the best observations which I have been able to make on the subject, I am led to be- lieve that there are very few who use tobacco and do not suffer harm from it to a greater or less extent. The earliest symptoms are manifested in the derangement of the nervous system. A large proportion of habitual smokers are rendered lazy and listless, indl-posed to bodily and incapa- ble of much mental exertion. Others suffer from depression of the spirits, amounting to hypochon- driasis, which smoking relieves for a time, though it aggravates the evil afterwards. Occasionally there is a general nervous excitability, which AND WHAT IT DOES. 25 though very much less in degree partakes of the nature of Delirium Tremens of drunkards." Again, the same author says . " It would be easy for me to refer to other symptoms indicating the deficient power of the nervous system to which smokers are liable ; but it is unnecessary for me to do • so ; and, indeed, there are some which I would rather leave them to imagine for themselves than undertake a description of them myself in writing." " But the ill effects of tobacco are not con- fined to the nervous system. In many instances there is a loss of the healthy appetite for food, the imperfect state of the digestion being soon rendered manifest by the loss of flesh and the sallow countenance. It is difficult to say what other diseases may not follow the imperfect as- similation of food continued during a long period of time. So many causes are in operation in the human body which may tend to a greater or less degree, to the production of organic changes in it, that it is only in some instances we can B 26 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS venture to pronounce as to the precise manner in which a disease that proves mortal has originated. From cases, however, that have fallen under my own observation, and from a consideration of all the circumstances, I cannot entertain a doubt that if we could obtain accurate statistics on the sub- ject, we should find that the value of life in invet- erate smokers is considerably below the average. Nor is this opinion in any degree contradicted by the fact that there are individuals who, in spite of the inhalation of tobacco smoke, live to be old, and without any material derangement of the health ; analogous exceptions to the general rule being met with in the cases of those who have indulged too freely in the use of spirituous and fermented liquors. In the early part of the pres- ent century, tobacco smoking was wholly con- fined to what are commonly called the lower grades of society. It was only every now and then that any one who wished to be considered as a gentlemen, was addicted to it. But since the war on the Spanish Peninsula, and the con- AND WHAT IT DOES. 27 sequent substitution of the cigar for the tobacco- pipe, the case has been entirely altered. The greatest smokers at the present time are to be found, not among those who live by their bodily labor, but among those who are more advantage- ously situated, who have better opportunities of education, and of when we have a right to ex- pect that they should constitute the most intelli- gent and thoughtful members of the community. Nor is the practice confined to grown-up men. Boys, even at the best schools, get the habit of smoking, because they think it manly and fash- ionable to do so ; not unfrequently because they have the example set them by their tutors, and partly because their is no friendly voice to warn them as to the special ill consequences to which it may give rise where the process of growth is not yet completed, and the organs are not yet fully developed." " The foregoing observations relate to the hab- it of smoking as it exists among us at the pres- ent time. But a still graver question remains to 28 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS be considered. What will be the result if this habit be continued by future generations ? It is but too true that the sins of the fathers are visit- ed upon their children and their children's chil- dren. We may here take warning from the fate of the Red Indians of America. An intelligent American physician gives the following explana- tion of the gradual extinction of this remarkable people :—One generation of them became addict- ed to the use of the fire-water. They have a degenerate and comparatively imbecile progen- cy, who indulge in the same vicious habit with their parents. Their progeny is still more degen- erate, and after a very few generations the race ceases altogether. We may also take warning from the history of another nation, who some few centuries ago, while following the banners of Solj man the Magnificent, were the terror of Christendom, but who, since then, having be- come more addicted to tobacco-smoking than any of the European nations, are now the lazy and lethargic Turks, held in contempt by all civilized AND WHAT IT DOES. 29 communities. In thus placing together the con- sequences of intemperance in the use of alcohol and that in the use of tobacco, I should be sorry to be misunderstood as regarding these two kinds of intemperance to be in an equal degree per- nicious and degrading. The inveterate tobacco- smoker may be stupid and lazy, and the habit to which he is addicted may gradually tend to shorten his life and deteriorate his offspring, but the dram-drinker is quarrelsome, mischevous and often criminal. It is under the influence of gin that the burglar and murderer become fitted for the task they have undertaken. The best thing that can be said of dram-drinking is, that it in- duces disease, wh:ch carries the poor wretch pre- maturely to the grave, and rids the world of the nuisance. But, unfortunately, in this, as in many other cases, what is wanting in quality is made up in quantity. There are checks on one of these evil habits which there are not on the other. The dram-drinker, or, to use a more general term, the drunkard, is held to be a noxious animal. 30 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS He is an outcast from all decent society, while there is no such exclusion for the most assiduous smoker." AND WHAT IT DOES. 31 CHAPTER III. Tobacco induces or hurries on Consumption and Haemop- tysis—It poisons the blood—Kills leeches, bugs, etc.— Intoxicates the nursing infant—Causes nervous affec- tions, Amaurosis, Deafness, etc — Weakens the recu- perative powers.—Use of long pipes.—Tobacco Dyspep- sia. — The use of tobacco no protection against conta- gious diseases. — Death from sleeping in a room with tobacco. A recent American writer, of much experi- ence, says : " To those predisposed to consump- tion, the ptylism which tobacco produces, hurries on the disease." And this is undoubtedly true in many instances. Latent tubercles may some- times remain undeveloped for a long time, per- haps during the whole natural life of the individ- ual, unless they are roused into action by some 32 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS morbid agent; the acrid and poisonous proper- ties of tobacco-smoke, tend to irritate and inflame the extremely delicate texture of this important organ, and the result is confirmed and incurable Phthisis. If the throat of almost any constant smoker be examined, it will be found red, and the lining membrane more or less thickened and swolen, the veins are turged, and frequent patches of mu- cous are visible ; in time the inflammation ex- tends to the lurynx, and along the trachea to the bronchia; the voice becomes more or less changed and often an uneasy sensation is felt beneath the pectoral muscles, sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other ; a slight cough super- venes—the seeds of disease have been quickened into life, and all the train of morbid symptoms incident to consumption, are likely to follow. When we see a lean hectic smoking and spitting continually, we say, that man is going to his long home by steam. Hemoptysis is often either induced or aggra- AND WHAT IT DOES. 33 vated by smoking. The hot steam of burning to- bacco, when taken into the lungs produces conges- ton, and to relieve this, blood is discharged into the pulmonary follicles to be brought up by coughing, and a bloody expectoration follows. This is one way in which consumption is brought on. The heart of an old smoker is generally a rickety concern ; its action is irregular and im- perfect ; it moves, and then stops to rest, shakes and throbs, and goes on again like some over- loaded, worn-out donkey. The nervous system becomes deranged, the muscles loose their tone, and a kind of chronic delirium tremens follows ; the man must smoke in the evening before he re- tires or he cannot sleep during the night; and when he wakes in the morning the first thing he looks for is his filthy tobacco ; without it he is ir- ritable, irresolute and vapid ; he looks to his pipe or cigar for his strength, his courage, his wisdom and his happiness. Poor man I tobacco is the spirit, the life and soul of his crazy carcass — without it he is most wretched. 34 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS Among other mental affections, insanity is some- times induced by the use of tobacco. In a paper drawn up by the celebrated female philanthro- pist, Miss Dix, she says : u In the Massachusetts State Hospital, in 1843, there were eight cases of insanity, produced by the abuse of tobacco." Since that time the number of insane in that State has greatly increased ; instead of one small State Hospital, there are now three large ones, constantly crowded with unfortunate inmates, and if the proportion that obtained at that time still exists, at the present time, the whole number in that State who have been made insane by tobacco may not be less than fifty. The noxious principles of tobacco enter into the circulation, so that the blood of every one who uses it freely, either by smoking or chewing, becomes constantly saturated. with its poisonous elements. Dr. Pidduck, physician to St. Giles's dispensary, says : " That during sixteen years practice in that institution, he ascertained the ex- traordinary fact, that leeches were killed instantly AND WHAT IT DOES. 35 by the blood of the smokers, so suddenly that they dropped off dead as soon as they began to draw the blood." He also, says : " That fleas and bugs, whose bites on children were as thick as measles, rarely or never attacked the smoking parent." It is said also, that the Arabs and Bedouins, who are constant smokers, are never troubled with such insects, although they con- stantly swarm in the Arab tents. When the mother of a nursing child smokes, her infant is often stupefied by the poison which it receives from the maternal breast. By such means, the blood becomes poisoned, and an un- happy, and perhaps a durable impression is made upon the whole system, at a tender age. If the smoker have any sore upon his lips or tongue, the poison of tobacco is likely to convert it into a cancer, or some other obstinate affec- tion. When the system has become charged with the elementary principles of tobacco, its re- cuperative power is diminished, and wounds made upon such individuals do not heal as readily 36 TOBACCO, WHAT HT IS as on others ; the whole nervous system becomes deranged, and tremblings, Angina Pectoris, pal- pitation of the heart, fainting-fits, paralysis, and almost every other nervous affection is liable to follow. Sedentary persons, mechanics, and oth- ers, who spend much of their time within doors, are liable to suffer more in this way than others; shut up in confined apartments, they are often obliged to breathe the polluted element over and over again. Partial or total blindness is often occasioned by the use of tobacco. Inveterate smokers almost always suffer from impaired vision ; sometimes only one eye, and sometimes both suffer. The free and long continued use of tobacco is pretty sure to impair or derange the optic nerves, and produce defective vision of some sort. Of these facts medical statistics furnish abundant proof, and a little attention to the subject might con- vince almost any one of the truth of the prop- osition. The following is a case in point, re- ported by Dr. John Kenton of London. AND WHAT IT DOES. 37 " J. W., a coach builder, upwards of fifty years of age, had smoked for thirty years, gen- erally two ounces of tobacco a week, when he became so blind as to be unable to work, or even walk through a crowded street. He applied to an eye dispensary, where the medical man, who is considered a good oculist, told him that he la- bored under amaurosis, and prescribed accord- ingly. After following his treatment for some time, and finding himself no better, he visited a neighboring city, and consulted another oculist, who instantly detected tobacco to be the cause of his blindness, as if the obnoxious stench of the weed had led him at once to this conclusion. J. W. instantly " threw away tobacco for ever," visited a relative in the Highlands, whore in a short time his vision gradually returned, became clear, and enabled him to return to his business quite cured. It is now six years since he recov- ered, and he now can read a small printed book without glasses. He says his health is much im- proved since he gave up the pernicious weed." 38 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS Numerous cases of confirmed and incurable amaurosis have arisen from the same cause, as the records of ophthalmic infirmaries show ; and the sense of hearing is often seriously impaired by the same means. The auditory nerves by be- ing long subject to the deading influence of to- bacco, loose their tone and become paralized and a partial deafness must follow. With many, smoking appears to be an auto- matic performance, having little or no connection with thought or reason ; it seems a kind of quasi- mechanical process, and consists in filling the lungs with a hot mixture of gaseous carbon, car- bonic acid, and the pungent oils and alkaloid of tobacco, diluted with a port:on of common air. Every inspiration of tobacco smoke is charged with all these deadly agents, and a portion of each is retained and enters the circulation to poi- son the blood, derange the animal economy, and impair and deprave the intellect. Can any one imagine that the extremely delicate membrane which lines the air-tubes, with its sensative ner- AND WHAT IT DOES. 39 vous fillaments, can long endure such roasting and fumigation without injury. One would sup- pose that such treatment would be sufficient to convert the softest tissue into rigid sole leather— the human chest is transformed into a smoke- house, and if the lungs are not converted into bacon, it is because the living principle resists the action of the petrifying elements. The injury to the lungs from hot fumes of to- bacco, being so obvious, human ingenuity was long ago put upon the rack to devise means to avoid the mischief without relinquishing the habit; this led to the use of the very long pipe, in order to allow the smoke to cool before reaching the lungs ; but the benefit derived from this expedi- ent was found to be trifling, and as the use of such pipes was impracticable in common life, the plan was never extensively adopted, and men choose to ignore the danger rather than relin- quish the pernicious practice. Some smoke to cure themselves of asthma, and sometimes a temporary benefit has been obtained 40 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS from the narcotism thereby induced, but hundreds have become asthmatic from the habitual use of tobacco, for one that has been permanently cured by that means. When we look around amongst our acquaint- ances, we often see many professional men and others of sedentary habits, who complain of dys- pepsia, and a great number of almost indiscriba- ble bodily ills, which mar their happiness and abridge their usefulness. They often repine at their hard fortune, and seem to blame the stars for their perverse constitutions; they wonder why they cannot eat and drink, and exercise as they see others do; they cannot imagine what can be the cause of all their discomfort. Their physician tells them that it is dyspepsia, and pre- scribes a great variety of ant-acids, tonics, laxa- tives and carminatives, and as a last resort,a jour- ney to some watering place—to the sea-shore, or to some spring, or mountain in the interior. But the benefit derived from these measures is often imperfect, and of short duration, and more im- AND WHAT IT DOES. 41 aginary than real. After all this manoeuvering the prime cause of all the mischief has been overlooked ; it is the tobacco-worm that is gnaw- ing their vitals, creeping over their brains, and along the spinal cord ; and if such invalids could be persuaded instantly to rid themselves forever of this source of so many troubles, they would, in a majority of cases, be cured with- out medicines, or journeys. Dr. Chipman of London, speaking of cases of this kind, says : " Such cases have generally been called dyspep- sia, and have been drugged and dieted, or sent off on foreign travel, carrying in their waistcoat pockets the Pandora's box of all their woes." Many have supposed that the use of tobacco was a protection against contagious diseases, but this is a most egregious mistake. The statis- tics of Cholera, Typhoid Fever, Epidemic Dys- entary, and Small Pox, prove that those who use tobacco freely, like those who use spirituous li- quors are more liable than others to be attacked by such diseases, and less likely to recover. Dr. c 42 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS J. H. Fenn of London says : " TobaCco has the effect of relaxing the mucous membranes, and diminishing the vital force, and is very apt to pro- duce, or predispose, to diarrhoea, and intestinal lesions." Lizars of ihe Royal Infirmary of Ed- inburgh assures us that he has uniformly found that persons addicted to the use of tobacco were more liable to attacks of Cholera, and other dan- gerous epidemics than those who were free from the habit, and when attacked were less liable to recover. The same author observes : " I have invariably found that patients addicted to tobacco- smoking were in spirit cowardly, and deficient in manly fortitude to undergo any surgical opera- tion." It is well ascertained that those who use much tobacco possess less physical and intellect- ual vigor than others who do not use it, and it is said that prize-fighters, boat-racers and pugilists, never use it whilst they are training nor on the day of contest. All who are engaged either in cultivating, cur- ing or manufacturing tobacco, are more or less AND WHAT IT DOES. 43 annoyed and injured by it. To all new beginners the business is extremely disagreable, and dis>. tressing. The subtle poison which the plant con- stantly emits irritates the eyes, offends the olfac- tories, stifles the breath, nauseates the stomach, and bewilders the brain; these affections are so many monitors which declare in language as plain as mute nature can speak, that this is one of those forbidden things which should be avoided< Like the Porcupine, it will injure no one who keeps at a proper distance. It is in vain to say that because tobacco, alcohol, hemlock, deadly night- shade, and numerous other noxious things exist, they must be intended to answer some good pur- pose ; the designs of our Creator in all such things are inscrutable and past finding out; fevers, small pox, dysentery, scarlet fever, and every other disease which preys upon the human frame has undoubtedly been ordered for some great, and wise purpose ; but we are admonished to avoid them whenever we can. Those who by long use become acclimated, and able to work upon 44 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS tobacco with apparent impunity, are nevertheless pretty sure to suffer from its deleterious effects. The complexion becomes of a dirty yellow, the cheeks fall in, the limbs become attenuated and shriveled, the whole frame emaciated, and the whole system, fluids and solids, becomes saturated with the'poisonous elements; which like a cor- roding canker are continually eating away the threads of life, until at length the vital principle can endure no longer, and the individual dies pre- maturely. Not long ago, the little daughter of a tobacco merchant died suddenly in frightful con- vulsions in consequence of having slept in a cham- ber in which a large quantity of iobacco was stored. AND WHAT IT DOES. 45 CHAPTER IV. Effects of tobacco upon the mind.—Men of strong intellects have seldom made use of tobacco.—Anecdote of Napo- leon Bonapart.—Tobacco debilitates and depraves the intellect.—Quotations from Dickens, Adam Clark, Wes- ley, Drs. Solly, Abernethy, Carlyon, and Johnson.— Amount consumed in Great Britain in a single year.— Extracts from Lizars. But after all that may be said of the prejudicial effcts of tobacco upon the animal system, its in- fluence upon the intellectual and moral faculties is still more deplorable. These effects must of course vary with the quantity consumed, the man- ner of using it, the age, condition and circum- stances of the individual, but it is seldom innocent under any circumstances, and is often attended by the most lamentable consequences. The sys- 46 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS tern may sometimes withstand, or ward off* for a time at least, the morbid impressions made upon the animal economy, but the stimulus of tobacco never fails to affect the brain and nervous system, and it is solely on this account that it is used. Tobacco is a stupefying narcotic; the in- dividual takes it because it creates a plea- surable sensation; he puffs away at his pipe or cigar as though he was drawing from the very fountain of bliss—the brain becomes more or less clouded and the intellectual powers pass into a dormant state. This condition is unfavorable to mental exertion—the mind is in a state of dreamy repose so long as the stimulus lasts, and when that is discontinued it sinks into a state of relapse, and in process of time its powers become permanently enfeebled and depraved. History, experience, and common observation, confirm the truth of this remark. Great thinkers have seldom used much tobacco, and many have left their testimony, as well as their example against it. The sages and philosophers in ancient times cer- AND WHAT IT DOES. 47 tainly never used it because its discovery is of more recent date, and during the last two or three hundred years very few if any who have been eminent for their intellectual powers have used tobacco. Dr. Franklin, and many other?., have left their strong testimony against it. It is said that Bonapart once attempted to use a very beautiful pipe presented to him by a Turk- ish embassador ; after one inhalation he cried : " Take away this abomination! Oh, the swine! — my stomach turns! " He declared the habit was only fit to amuse sluggards. It would add greatly to the interest, honor, and usefulness of thousands of American young men if they would imitate the noble example of the first Napoleon, and throw away the pipe or cigar forever. An able writer upon the Crimean war gives it as his settled conviction that the principle reason why the Russians lost so many battles was that their soldiers were generally stupefied with tobacco and raki. The London Globe says: " That dividing the 48 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS young men of the Polytecnic school in Paris into two groups—the smokers and non-smokers—the former always much excel the latter at every examination." Dickens says that many students attending the American Colleges destroy their physical, intellectual, and moral powers by the use of tobacco, and are thereby rendered unable to proceed with their studies. Two of the most eminent divines of the Metho- dist church, viz: the celebrated Wesley and Dr. Adam Clark, exerted themselves to keep their denominations free from the use of this stupefy- ing, and as they thought demoralizing agent. Dr. Solly, a very eminent lecturer at St. Thom- as's Hospital, addressing his class upon paralysis said: " Iknow of'no si?igle vice which does so much harm as smoking. It is a snare and delu- sion. It soothes the excited nervous system at the time, to render it more irritable, and more feeble ultimately. I can always distinguish a man who smokes much by his complexion." Again he says : " The more I think of the tobac- AND WHAT IT DOES. 49 co question, the more it haunts me. I feel that I cannot do justice to its importance, but am anx- ious to do something. Every day the subject is forced upon my mind. I scarcely meet a friend or patient who does not bear testimony to the mis- chief of smoking." And again he says: " Look at the pale face, imperfect development, and de- ficient muscular power of the inhabitants of un- healthy districts — they live on, but with only half the proper attributes of life. So it is with the habitual smoker — his system becomes saturated with the poison." During more*than twenty years Dr. Solly held the office of medical examiner of four of the largest life insurance companies in Great Britain, every applicant was strictly examined as to his use of tobacco, and those who were found to use it freely were either refused, or subjected to a higher premium on that account. Dr. Abcrnethy, one of the most eminent physi- cians that Great Britain has ever produced, used to say : " Snuff fuddles the nose ; but the fumes 50 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS of tobacco possess a power to stupefy all the senses, and all the faculties, by slow but enduring intoxication, into dull obliviousness." Dr. Carlyon, a correet observer of men and things writes as follows: " What can be more deleterious than tobacco? Many an honest Deuts- cher have I seen smoking himself into the grave! Rauch — Rauch — imraer Rauch ! the counte- nance pale and haggard ; the frame emaciated ; the propensity to smoke irrisistable ! " The same author says : " I recollect reading the address of a professor in some American uni- versity, to his pupils, on the bad effects of tobacco. This address, sensible and spirited, seemed to come from the professor's very heart. He de- precated, in the most forcible manner, the prac- tice of smoking, which had been recently taken up, and said : " That prior to the period when pipes were to be seen in the mouth of every stu- deril, the youth of the university were as different in their looks from the individuals with whom he was surrounded, as health from disease." AND WHAT IT DOES. 51 The following is an extract from an article which appeard in the London Lancet June 31st, 1857, from the pen of Dr. Johnson. " The quantity of this poisonous weed entered for home consumption, in the eleven months end- ing November, 1856, was 29,776,082 lbs. The deleterious effects which this enormous amount of tobacco produced upon its victims, both phy- sically, mentally, and morally, admits of no pos- sible calculation." It appears to be a point well established that the free and long continued use of tobacco in any form weakens the intellect; by degrees the mind looses its power to prolong an investigation, or solve a difficult problem ; its conceptions are con- fused and indistinct — like a bird which has shed its pinions, its exercises are limited to its own narrow precinct. Professor Lizars in his work entitled, " To- bacco, its use and abuse," says : *' By its so general consumption we must become changed in both corporal and mental faculties — we cannot 52 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS fail to be enfeebled in body and mind, and be- come a deteriorated race." Again he says: " Young men who are in the habit of putting an enemy in their mouth to steal away their brains, do not become aware of these facts until it some- times becomes too late." AND WHAT IT DOES. 53 CHAPTER V. Smoking worse than Snuffing or Chewing.— Cigars worse than Pipes.— Snuffing nearly given up.— The earlier in life tobacco is used, the worse its effects.— Smoking a nuisance.— The cost of tobacco considered.—Danger from fires. In the ordinary manner of snuffing, chewing, and smoking, the latter method is undoubtedly the most pernicious. As we have said before, the smoker takes into his lungs hot gasseous car- bon, free carbonic acid — two poisonous oils—and an alkaloid, mixed up with a portion of atmos- pheric air. In smoking about a quarter of an ounce of tobacco, two grains of the poison are taken into the mouth. This would kill any one in a very short time if most of it was not imme- diately thrown out by expiration, so that the act 54 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS of smoking consists in inhaling poison, and throw- ing a part of it out again. There are several reasons why the cigar is worse than the pipe : the large, and loose caliber of the cigar allows, the smoke to pass freely through it, whilst the pipe- stem with its stinted foramina will only allow a very small stream to pass through it; so that the cigar smoker takes his etherial sedative much faster than one who uses an ordinary pipe. Besides, the tobacco burns much slower in a pipe, and if the stem is long, the place of com- bustion and heat is farther off; when a cigar is used the filthy tobacco comes in contact with the lips, teeth, and gums, and sometimes occasions cancer of the lips or tongue ; the records of American and European Hospitals show that great numbers have died by such means. A to- bacco cancer is the most incurable of all affections of the mouth. The chewer does not get the empyreumatic oil which is evolved by the combustion of a cigar, but he gets the alkaloid, and a pungent volatile AND WHAT IT DOES. 55 oil. A portion of these must necessarily be ab- sorbed by the membrane that lines the mouth and fauces, and more or less of the same poisonous materials will unavoidably get into the stomach, and produce a train of mischievous consequences which have been before alluded to. Snuff-taking, once so common with both sexes, is now nearly abandoned, so that it is unnecessary to say much about it here. As usually practiced this method of using tobacco is undoubtedly the least injurious of the three, but it is by no means free from serious objections, besides being a most filthy and disgusting habit; but the good sense of the gentler sex has pronounced an irreversable decree against it, and it will soon be known only in history. If the tobacco smoker, like the rum drinker swallowed all the poison himself without troubling others with it, his associates would have less rea- son to complain — but this is not the case ; those who accompany him are compelled to partake with him, a halo of etherial tobacco surrounds 56 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS him — rooms in public houses, and even the streets and lanes of cities and villages are often more or less filled with the noxious effluvia—the common air becomes charged with it, and if this atrocious offence was not an universal practice — if only some itinerant smoker occasionally com- mitted this outrage upon public health and com- mon decency, he would be speedily, and feverely punished, and regarded by the community as a felo de se. It is obvious that some constitutions tolerate tobacco better than others, and it is also certain that it does not injure the full-fed man, who smokes only after taking a hearty meal, as much as it does those who eat but little, and often smoke upon an empty stomach. To commence the day with tobacco before breakfast is certainly a very bad beginning. But in general, the earlier in life the habit is commenced, the more pernicious are its consequences. In youth the whole material frame is tender and plastic; alive to every agen- cy, and yielding to the softest touch. Tobacco AND WHAT IT DOES. 57 checks nutrition, and prevents the full develop- ment of the organs, and by stimulating some por- tion of the system at the expense of some other part, deformity is produced. He who commences the free use of tobacco very early in life prepares the way to become a dwarf. Has any one ever seen a person of such habits who was not diminu- tive in size and a dunce in intellect? One might suppose that the filthiness of the habit would make it everywhere sufficiently odi- ous to banish it forever from civilized life, but it is not so: the power of the appetite bids defiance to all restraints, and triumphs over all civil, re- ligious and social proprieties. The bed, every article of apparel, his gloves and handkerchief, and even the love letters of a confirmed smoker are scented wilh tobacco. The man who chews much tobacco within doors has a constant demand for a spittoon, which is always a most disgusting and sickening object. When he goes abroad the first thing he looks for when he enters your sitting-room is the spittoon, D 58 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS this is a sine quanon with him, and if he does not find it he must have recourse to the door fre- quently, or raise a window to discharge his filthy tobacco juice, which if he should swallow would poison, even him. Having a toad, or quid, no matter which, in his mouth, his articulation often becomes drawling and indistinct. And when one is doomed to live in the same house, eat at the same table, sleep in the same room, and perhaps in the same bed, with one who daily eats, or smokes the nauceous weed, and be compelled to inhale the poison second-handed, the abomination is complete ; and the female who has the cour- age and the patience to endure all this for a life- time, better deserves a pension than many a sol- dier. When the tenant of some narrow cottage smokes, as is often the case, by his own fireside, the whole apartment becomes filled and saturated with the noxious aura, and every member of that family is compelled to partake of the etherial poi- son. Tobacco smoke is always extremely offen- AND WHAT IT DOES. 59 sive to all who are unaccustomed to it, but by de- grees the family become acclimated—they are no longer annoyed by the choke-damp that sur- rounds them, but breathe it over, and over again, without complaining, and at length some are found to love the giddy sensation which it pro- duces; so that the inveterate smoker not only fuddles his own brain, but intoxicates the whole family at the same time — the little boy soon learns to imitate the example set before him, he looks upon the cigar as the smaller child does upon a roll of candy, as the source of unalloyed pleasure, and becomes impatient to put it to his lips. The more he smokes the more he wants to smoke, until the desire for the inebriating stim- ulus becomes almost irresistable ; and to appease this artificial craving some inebriating beverage is often resorted to, and habits of intemperance follow as legitimate consequences. Such is the early history of many an irreclaimable inebriate. The cost of tobacco, though the least of all the evils that follow in this murky train, is not an 60 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS unimportant item. Suppose a lad to commence smoking at the age of fifteen, and to use on an average three cigars per day, at the cost of two cents each, in this way he would expend in one year nearly twenty two dollars; in twenty five years the aggregate of his annual expenditures for tobacco, with the interest, would amount to more than one thousand dollars. This is not an extravagant calcularon : many a young man ex* pends in this way much more than we have sup- posed. But if only one cigar a day is used, the whole expense in twenty five years with interest would not be less than three or four hundred dol- lars. Now if we should look about us we might find many a man, poor, old, and stupid, without house or home of his own, who has all his life used to- bacco, and actually expended in that way a jum sufficient to have provided him and his family a good home in his old age. It is obvious that all the money expended for tobacco is so much lost, and as almost every one expends more or less in his way a large portion of the people are made AND WHAT IT DOES. 61 poorer by it. The whole sum expended annually in that way by some individuals is almost in- creditable. We are assured that there are now about town, young men, not yet thirty years of age, who have already expended the full amount of one thousand dollars in tobacco^ One indi- vidual of undoubted veracity, who purchased his cigars at wholesale, informed us that in a single year, he had " used up," two thousand of the best cigars. The cost of these at the saloon price would not be less than one hundred dollars. If all the small change that is daily spent for cigars was deposited in Saving Banks, they would soon become the richest institutions in the country. There is another pecuniary consideration con- nected with the use of tobacco ; it is this : most smokers carry friction matches in their pockets, in consequence of which, either by accident or design, many fires have been set, and many buildings burned, and it is obvious that the lives and interests of individuals and communities are less safe on this account. Insurance companies 62 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS suffer more or less every year from this cause. It is said that some of the largest English Life Insurance companies will not insure inveterate smokers on equal terms with others, and if the American offices should adopt the same policy it would undoubtedly be for their interest, and might operate as a warning upon all. AND WHAT IT DOES. 63 CHAPTER VI. Does tobacco shorten life ? An extract, etc. Some are ready to contend that tobacco can have no tendency to shorten life because there are many old persons who use it. This is the drunkards standing argument, and if it proved anything it would prove quite too much: if we are to conclude that tobacco is harmless because old men are found who use it, then by the same course of reasoning we must conclude that intoxi- cating liquors are harmless because drunkards sometimes live to old age; and by the same rule it might be shown that nobody had been slain or wounded in battle because some old soldiers still survive. Out of fifty persons bitten by a mad dog 64 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS several may escape the hydrophobia, but such rare instances do not show that there is no danger from the bites of rabid animals. Peculiarity of tempera- ment or idiosyncrasy may enable some constitu- tions to withstand for many years the pernicious effcetsof a virulent poison, but such exceptions to a general rule do not prove that poisons are harm- less A moments' reflection will show that this kind of reasoning is wholly fallacious. Most of those who have used tobacco and lived to a great age, used it sparingly—they only smoked or chewed a little—in many cases the habit was not contracted until late in life, and then was often resorted to as a remedy for some bodily infirmity. It should also be remembered that there is a wide difference between the past and the present gen- erations— our fathers and grandfathers were men of giant frames and iron constitutions, and possessed a wonderful power of endurance — they fed upon plain food, and lived much in the open air — they were inured to hardships, and labored incessantly. Physically and mentally AND WHAT IT DOES. 65 they were heroes; they lived, labored, and fought, despite all the evils and disadvantages with which they had to contend ; they were made of firmer stuff than most of the present generation, and yet, we have no reason to suppose that tobacco had no pernicious effect upon them—the proof of its poisonous effects are coeval with its history — it was ever a most virulent poison, and although its operations as such may not have been always noticed, we are well assured that they must have transpired in some form or other. We have said that one of the effects of tobacco is to produce paralysis, and trembling of the limbs; can any one show us an old person who has used tobacco freely for a long time and yet is free from such affections ? Many a young man who smokes ex- cessively is unable to hold his hand still, when the stimulus of the tobacco is off, and as the grog- drinker resorts to his dram to steady his shaking hand, so the inveterate smoker has recourse to his pipe or cigar to steady his. As has been said before, the most serious mis- 66 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS chief produced by tobacco arises from its em- ployment in youth and early manhood, although it cannot be said to be perfectly harmless at any age or under any circumstances. The cigar is rather a modern invention and adds greatly to the mischief produced by tobacco. It is so con- venient, so fashionable, so nice and so cheap, that every one who desires to enjoy the inebriating effects of tobacco can easily obtain it. In making a comparison between alcohol and tobacco, a single consideration shows that the latter has greatly the advantage. Drinking is considered disgraceful; the tipler must,be sly; public opinion is against all common drinkers, and therefore many abstain from liquor for their credits sake ; but the case is very different with smoking: ci- gars are fashionable in all grades of society, in the highest and the lowest, all the difference be- ing in the cost of the article, and no one is ever disparaged because he smokes, even though he have a pipe or cigar in his mouth at all hours of the day except at meal time ; and until public AND WHAT IT DOES. 67 opinion can be brought to aid in correcting the evil, the friends of reform must labor under great disadvantage. The following is an extract from an article written by a physician of extensive practice in London, and published by the British Anti-To- bacco Society. " 1. Smoking weakens the digestive and assim- ilating functions, impairs the due elaboration of the chyle and of the blood, and prevents a healthy nutrition of the several structures of the body. Hence result, especially in young persons, an ar- rest of the growth of the body; low stature ; a pallid and sallow hue of the surface; an in- sufficient and an unhealthy supply of blood; weak bodily powers; and, in many instances,complete emasculation, or inability of procreation. In per- sons more advanced in life, these effects, although longer in making their appearance, supervene at last, and with a celerity in proportion to the ex- tent to which this vile habit is carried. "2. Smoking generates thirst and vital de- 68 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS pression; and to remove these, the use of stimu- lating liquors is resorted to, and often carried to a most injurious extent. Thus two of the most de- basing habits and vices to which human nature can be degraded, are indulged in to the injury of the individual thus addicted, to the shortening of his life, and to the injury and ruin of his offspring, if, indeed, he still retain his procreative powers— a very doubtful result—and the more doubful when both vices are united in one person. " 3. Smoking tobacco weakens the nervous powers ; favors a dreamy, imaginative, and im- becile state of existence ; produces indolence and incapability of manly or continued exertion ; and sinks its votary into a state of careless or maudlin inactivity and selfish enjoyment of his vice. He ultimately becomes partially, but generally para- lyzed in mind and body — he is subject to tremors and numerous nervous ailments, and has recourse to stimulents for their relief. These his vices cannot abate, however indulged in, and he ulti- mately dies a drivelling idiot, an imbecile para- AND WHAT IT DOES. 69 lytic, or a sufferer from internal organic disease, at an age many years short of the average dura- tion of life." Before the pernicious elements of tobacco were clearly made known by chemical examinations, many became addicted to its use without the least suspicion of its pernicious tendency; and at the present time some old men of that description are found using it, though very sparingly, com- pared with the young men of the present day. Refering to such instances an able writer ob- serves: "For old men, smoking may be tole- rated; but for young men and boys, it cannot be too severely reprobated." 70 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS CHAPTER VII. The use of tobacco impairs the memory.— Anecdote of Dr. Franklin. The free use of tobacco tends to impair the memory. The more one uses, the more he is in- jured in this respect. The profound smoker passes his time in a kind of dreamy ecstacy; the tide of events seems to sweep by him without leaving any durable impressions upon his mind; consequently the habit is a most pernicious one for students and scientific men. Many old in- veterate smokers appear to remember little or nothing but what took place before they began to smoke. It is said that Sir John Pringle who was in Paris with Dr. Franklin, was a great snuff-taker, AND WHAT'IT DOES. 71 and was at the same time troubled with trembling of the limbs and loss of memory; observing his condition, Dr. Franklin advised him to abandon the use of snuff; accordingly he did so, and soon his trembling ceased, and his memory improved. The bewildering influence of tobacco upon the brain impairs the reasoning powers, leads the mind to pursue phantoms, and doubtless promotes spiritualism, and other mental vagaries. Like opium it induces feelings of placid enjoyment, and unruffled pleasure, it mellows the passions, and soothes the mind into a delightful tranquiity. The smoker, as he puffs forth the clouds of mot- tled wreaths experiences a kind of apocalypse, he becomes inattentive to whatever is taking place around him and revels in the regions of fancy. The dusky atmosphere in which he be- comes enveloped is filled with magic panoramas, and he needs but to unbridle his teeming imagi- nation to behold cities and villages, lakes and land- scapes scattered in wild profusian about him. The cadences of bewitching music fall gently 72 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS upon his ear, fragrant blossoms perfume the scenery, and gaity and beauty dance around him — for a time all is quiet — all is lovely. But these are only phantoms of a disordered sensorium to be chased away by specters of an opposite character as soon as the intoxication has passed off. Whilst the individual is thus beguiled an unseen enemy is at work within him — per- haps slowly, and silently, but surely sapping his physical, intellectual, and moral powers: his happiness is only momentary, and a state of Ian- gor, and stupidity follow ; and to this succed rest- lessness, anxiety and depression of spirits — the man is moody, and peevish, trembles and stares like an idiot — he feels an insatiable longing for more tobacco—just another quid, or another puff, to wait him again to his etherial paradise. Like the song of a syren it delights, whilst it beguiles and destroys its victim. It is true that the habit- ual smoker who consumes only a limited quantity of tobacco daily may not be very conscious of such mental elevation; with such the effect is AND WHAT IT DOES. 73 less in degree and so common as to pass unno- ticed by the individual himself; yet, although his mind may not take cognizance of such ordi- nary impressions, the material organism will not cease to be prejudiciously affected by the introduc- tion of the subtle poison; the senses may be steeped in a delightful forgetfulness, but the laws of vitality cannot be bribed. E 74 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS CHAPTER VIII. Other effects of tobacco. — Case reported by Professor Chapman. — Opinion of Dr. Wright. — Experiments upon dogs. — Argument advanced by the Nashville Medical Journal, answered. Many persons of a nervous temperament who use tobacco freely experience peculiar distress- ing sensations at the pit of the stomach. At first there may be only a slight epigastric sinking, a restlessness and inability to sleep on going to bed, then a shock, which is at first slight, is felt in the epigastrium ; these shocks occur just as the indi- vidual is beginning to doze, he is startled and his sleep is broken — after a period of uneasy watch- ing, as soon as he begins to sleep the shocks re- turn and sleep is frightened away again ; in this way the unhappy victim is often tormented dur- AND WHAT IT DOES. 75 ing the first part of the night, his sleep is not what that of every healthy person should be, " Tired nature's sweet restorer:" but a succession of broken slumbero, interrupted by startings and disagreeable dreams; and in some instances symp- toms resembling delirium tremens torment the unfortunate sufferer in the day time. Dr. Ship- man an eminent English physician, says: "The martyrs themselves little suspect the secret ene- my that is sapping the foundations of health and life. They have been accustomed to the use of tobacco perhaps from childhood; their grand- father, father, and brothers, have used it before them; and they never heard a word spoken in di.-paragement of it, and their own inclination is a powerful advocate for the pernicious article. Perhaps too, some thoughtless physician may have spoken in its favor ; they may however have some misgivings as they lie awake night after night, taking an inventory of thsir wretched feel- ings. The only cure for all such harassing, and in the end ruinous affections is to throw away the tobacco forever." 76 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS The late Professor Chapman of Philadelphia, said, that he was once consulted by a member of Congress in the meridian of life, and of a stout frame, who told him that from having been one of the most healthy and fearless of men, he had become " sick all over," and as timid as a girl. He could not even present a petition to Congress, much less say a word concerning it, although he had long been a practising lawyer, and had served much in legislative bodies. By any ordinary noise he was startled, or thrown into tremulous- ness, and was afraid to be alone at night — his appetite and digestion were gone — he had pain- ful sensations at the pit of the stomach, and ob- stinate constipation. During the narrative of his sufferings his aspect approached the haggard wildness of mental distemperature. On enquiry Dr. Chapman found that his con- sumption of tobacco was almost incredible, by chewing, snuffing, and smoking, and assured his patient that all his misery had been brought on by the use of this poisonous weed. The man gave AND WHAT IT DOES. 77 up the use of tobacco immediately, and in a few weeks entirely recovered without the aid of any medicine. Dr. Wright, an eminent English surgeon, says, that the effects of tobacco are precisely alike upon man and animals, and that in whatever way it is administered it enfeebles the action of the heart, and acts as a sedative upon the whole nervous system. lie tried it upon a number of heahhy dogs by giving each one a small quantity daily mixed with his food. The dogs soon grew poor, their limbs became weak and trembling, their hair fel) off, they became blind, and their eyelids sloughed ; and they all finally died, being completely emaciated. Now if these dogs had taken a much smaller quantity at a time, and that only occasionally, theymight without doubt have lived for a long time, and when finally they died no one would have attributed their deaths to tobacco. Some individuals may use tobacco daily, year after year without appearing to suffer from it, and 78 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS peculiarity of temperament, idiosyncrasy, and personal habits, may enable some constitutions to resist the action of this subtle poison without suf- fering any serious bodily injury, yet it is be- lieved that few persons enjoy any such absolute immunity; and however lightly some may re- gard the effects of tobacco upon the human sys- tem, it is certain that its noxious effects have never been known to fail when it has been ad- ministered to dogs, cats, snakes, bugs or lice. It is not certain that no harm is being done be- cause none is seen by the common observer; the morbid changes which take place within the sys- tem and so often prove fatal are mostly out of sight; and whilst the individual is attending to his ordinary business and thinks himself well, some incipient affection is slowly but surely tak- ing place in some important organ which may at length destroy his life. This is one great reason why so large a portion of mankind die so unex- pectedly to themselves and their friends. " The young disease that must subdue at length, Grows with his growth and strengthens with his strength." AND WHAT IT DOES. 79 And yet the individual may be all unconscious of its existence until he is prostrated by it. There may have been thousands of instances * in which none of the evils incident to the use of tobacco have been noticed, yet, when it is clearly shown that so many physical, mental, and moral ills are very liable to be produced by it, and when it is acknowledged that its use is never attended with any essential benefit, it appears surprising to us that any respectable journalists should be so regardless of the good of mankind as to contrib- ute their mite to the support of a popular evil, yet, such is sometimes the case. In order to make it appear that tobacco does not often do any great harm, a recent writer tells us that within what he calls, "the tobacco period," Shakspeare, Milton, Bacon and Newton have lived, and that within the same period the Lu- theran Reformation, the French Revolution, and many other great events have transpired ; all this is true, and it is true also that within the same period the celebrated Dr. Adam Clark, Dr. 80 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS Franklin, Napoleon Bonaparte and a host of other men eminent for their talents and their virtues have lived and made wonderful discoveries and improvements without ever being contaminated with this noxious element. Again it is true that a very large portion of the most eminent men now on the stage of action are either entirely free from its use, or, use it very sparingly. We know also that until the early part of the present century the use of this filthy weed was chiefly confined to the low, and vulgar. It is unfortunate for the advocates of to- bacco that the use of intoxicating liquors has greatly increased within this same " tobacco pe- riod," and that physical, and moral depravities, have also greatly increased during the same time; and any argument that may be advanced in favor of the use of tobacco during the period in question, will apply with equal force in favor of the use of alcoholic drinks. But perhaps in the midst of our arguments against tobacco, in comes some sage matron AND WHAT IT DOES. 81 and informs us that it is very useful as a medi- cine ; she has known smoking to cure tooth-ache, and snuff-plasters to cure croup, etc., etc. Such medical dames are often met with ; but they are a very unsafe class of practitioners, being ignorant of the danger that always attends the use of this article when employed as a medicine, children and sometimes adults have been killed by such means. It is proper to say that tobacco is not needed for any medical purposes, there being no case in which it might be employed where some- thing else less nauseous and less dangerous, might not answer the indications quite as well; but if it is ever to be used as a medicine, an arti- cle of so much power, and so depressing in its effects, should never be prescribed or made use of by any but well educated medical men, and then used with great caution. But if its cura- tive powers were as great as some would have us believe, this simple fact would be an unan- swerable argument against its common use. 82 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS CHAPTER IX. Disorders that arise from sleeping with those who use tobacco.—Case reported by Dr. Huff of New York.— Statement of Dr. Prout. It is undoubtedly true that sleeping with a per- son who uses tobacco freely often has a prejudi- cial effect upon one who does not use it. As has been said before, the poisonous oils and alka- loid of tobacco are taken into the system and mixed with the blood whenever the article is used ; a large portion of these poisons after going the rounds of the circulation pass out of the body through the lungs, as the breath of every smoker or chewer testifies ; therefore it is plain that any one who sleeps in the same bed with such a per- son must necessarily be inhaling the poison second-handed all night long ; a case in point is AND WHAT IT DOES. 83 reported by a physician of much experience : • " The young wife of a great smoker grew pale, lost her appetite, become affected with palpita- tions of the heart, trembling of the limbs and a death like sinking at the pit of the stomach ; her sleep was often interrupted with darting pains and frightful dreams ; she become nervous with symptoms of hysteria. At first her physician was unable to account for this medly of distress- ing affections, but at length it occurred to him that they resembled the effects of tobacco ; he communicated his suspicions to the husband who immediately cast away the cigar and had the satisfaction of seeing his wife recover in a short time without the aid of medicine." In a public address delivered a few years ago by the Rev. Mr. Trask of Fitchburg, Mass., he made a touching appeal to the ladies on account of the wrongs which they endure from this com- mon nuisance. The mischievous effects upon smokers and chewers themselves are more numerous and 84 • TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS serious than is generally supposed. It is pre- sumed that there is scarcely a physician in the United States who has an extensive prac- tice who has not on his list of invalid patients some whose disorders are mainly owing to the use of tobacco ; medical statistics abound with such reports. The following is among a large number of similar cases reported by Dr. Gers- ham Huff of New York. " We are acquainted with a gentleman who some years since appeared to be wasting away without any specific disease: his evenings were pleasant and gay, his conversation instructive and enliven- ing, and his general appearance, save a shrinking of the muscles and a cadaverous hue of counte- nance, that of a man in health ; but the morning found him listless and inactive, the tongue furred, the hands hot, the pulse fluttering, weak and ac- celerated—W3 may add, with a general prostra- tion of the vital functions." "His friends became alarmed, and physicians of eminence were consulted : by some he was pro- AND WHAT IT DOES. 85 nounced to be in a rapid consumption ; others were of the opinion that the disease lay in the liver; while a third declared it to be a peculiar species of neuralgia. In conversing with him one evening on the distinct peculiarities of his even- ing and morning sensations, we inquired if he ate suppers. No, was the direct reply. We then further inquired if any alcoholic stimulus was taken in the evening. Nothing stronger than cider, and only one glass of that, was the answer. Our friend was at the time smoking. It immedi- ately occurred to us that the numberless and va- rious symptoms presented, which seemed to baf- fle all attempts at a correct diagnosis, might arise from the effects of tobacco on the nervo-muscular system, and through it on the organic vital func- tions. Upon asking how many cigars he smoked per day in addition to constant chewing, we were answered," 'About eight or nine.'' " We had now no doubt of the cause of his di- sease : it stared us in the face." "■ We advised him to abstain gradually from the 86 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS entire use of tobacco, and he would regain his health. Our advice was followed : he is now, after a lapse of thirteen years, in the possession of robust health, and a physical frame equal to that of any man of equal stature, a good appetite, an overflow of natural spirits; and morning finds him in the enjoyment of that health with which he retired to rest on the preceding evening." Says Dr. Prout, in his book on " Diseases of the Stomach and Urinary Organs": "There is an article much used in various ways, though not' as an aliment, the deleterious effects of which on the assimilating organs, etc., require to be briefly noticed, viz.: Tobacco. Although confessedly one of the most virulent poisons in nature, yet such is the fascinating influence of this noxious weed, that mankind resort to it in every mode they can devise, to insure its stupefying and pernicious agency. Tobacco disorders the assimilating func- tions in general, but particularly, as I believe, the assimilation of the saccharine principle. I have never, indeed, been able to trace the develop- AND WHAT IT DOES. 87 ment of oxalic acid to the use of tobacco; but that some analagous and equally poisonous prin- ciple (probably of an acid nature) is generated in certain individuals by its abuse, is evident from their cachetic looks, and from the dark, and often greenish-yellow tint of their blood. The severe and peculiar dyspeptic symptoms sometimes pro- duced by inveterate snuff-taking are well known ; and I have more than once seen such cases ter- minate fatally, with malignant disease of the stomach and liver. Great smokers, also, es- pecially those who employ short pipes and ci- gars, are said to be liable to cancerous affections of the lips. But it happens with tobacco, as with deleterious articles of diet: the strong and heal- thy suffer comparatively little, while the weak and predisposed to disease fall victims to its poison- ous operation. Surely, if the dictates of reason were allowed to prevail, an article so injurious to the health, and so offensive in all its forms and modes of employment, would speedily be ban- ished from common use." 88 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS Druitt (Principles of modern Surgery, p. 353) says: " Amaurosis is liable to be induced by certain narcotico-acrid poisons, such as belladon- na, and especially by tobacco, whether adminis- tered in poisonously large doses by accident, or used slowly and frequently in the form of muff or smoke." Again the same author says : " Tobacco, like alcohol, is also an intoxicant in whatever form it is taken ; it creates thirst and is thus apt to lead to the use of alcoholic drinks ; it has a benumbing, withering effect on the intellectual powers, and demoralizes the feelings." AND WHAT IT DOES. 89 CHAPTER X. The effects of tobacco upon the appetite considered.— Smoking leads to drinking, and drinking to smoking.— An extract from Dr. Budgett of London. We would not be understood to say that the use of tobacco always diminishes the appetite for food ; such is usually the case, especially in del- icate individuals, persons of nervous tempera* ments, and sedentary habits, and in young be- ginners ; but we do sometimes meet with indi- viduals who use tobacco freely and also consume large quantities of food, and yet such persons are generally thin and spare. This is readily ac- counted for: as we have said before, tobacco vi- tiates the salivary and gastric fluids, and often renders them acrid, by which a morbid appetite is created ; the man may eat voraciously, but in F 90 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS consequence of the depraved condition of the stomach his food will be but imperfectly digested, and therefore a larger amount will be necessary to supply the nutriment required. The body is not nourished in proportion to the quantity of food taken, because, owing to a morbid condition of the organs of digestion and assimilation, only a portion of the nutriment taken is appropriated. Besides, when the system is exhausted, as it always must be more or less, by the profuse sali- vation which the free use of tobacco produces, a larger quantity of nutriment is required to com- pensate for the loss sustained; accordingly we often see persons in the last stage of Pulmonary Consumption who have craving appetites. There- fore it is obviously unsafe to conclude that tobac- co does no harm so long as the individual can eat heartily. What if an individual is not aware at the time that he is suffering any injury whatever from the use of tobacco, alcohol, or any other pernicious indulgence ? He is contracting a debt, for the AND WHAT IT DOES. 91 payment of which his whole system is mortgaged; he may appear to get a long credit, but as sure as he lives a day of reckoning will come, and he will be required to make atonement for every fla- grant violation of the laws of his being. It is thought by many, that the use of tobacco leads to the use of intoxicating liquors. This is however, denied by some, who assert that the con- trary is true: that drinking leads to smoking and not smoking to drinking. Such an argument can- not be worth much to the advocates of tobacco, for it certainly shows their friend to be in very poor company. There can be do doubt but the two vices are closely connected, and if all smokers do not drink, nearly all drinkers either smoke, or chew tobacco. Both alcohol and tobacco are powerful narcotics, and are taken on account of the pleasurable sensations which they produce, and when once an individual resolves to sacrifice the dignity of his intellectual nature to sensual gratifications, he may seize upon that which is the most readily obtained: it may not be conven- 92 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS ient for him always to have alcohol by his side, but he can always have a cigar in his mouth or in his pocket. Extracts from Dr. Budgett's instructive pa- per, on " The Tobacco Question, Morally, So- cially, and Physically Considered:" 1857. Dr. Budgett remarks: " Two hundred and sixty years ago, tobacco smoking was described as 'a branch of the sin of drunkenness;' but during the last ten or fifteen years, the consumption of the weed has so increased, especially amongst young peo- ple, that we cannot even yet comprehend its in- fluence or result. " Still, the habits and manners of a country stamp its identity ; and if a New Zealander, or any man- ly representative of any of our conquered coun- tries, which we call colonies, could place himself in London, Manchester, or any of our large cities, and ask to be shown the youth of our present time, the fathers of the next generation, he would look in vain for the strengh of limb, the Saxon AND WHAT IT DOES. 93 energy, the mens sana in corpore sano which has carried us successfully in every land. " If some old warrior read this, perchance he may smile with contempt; but, before he does so, I would recommend him to take his stand at nine in the morning in any thoroughfare leading to London ; scan carefully the thin, pale faces on every omnibus ; measure in his mind's eye the narrow shoulders, the shuffling walk of the great majority of pedestrians; and then let him tell me if he can recognize any of the manly ele- ments which were, in his early day, the pride and glory of his country. No! Tobacco meets us at every corner ; it smokes on every omnibus, like the reeking of a dunghill; puppies, in the guise of officers and disguise of gentlemen, puff their impertinence into ladies' faces, who may be unprotected in the streets; tailors, clerks and shopboys, taking advantage of the early clos- ing movement, light their cigars as they draw on their gloves for an evening's ramble; and lit- tle boys, from the costermonger to the crossing- 94 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS sweeper, form smoking-clubs of from three to twelve, passing their one pipe from mouth to mouth, in the secluded nooks of every alley, from the railway arch to the mythical arcana of the Adelphi. It is here that vice grows strong in company, and here the little boy receives his first practical instruction in larceny from his more ad- vanced confederates ; around the pipe, young pickpockets hold their parliament. " That this is so, no one can deny. It is a grave and important subject for any legislature to con- sider, which looks beyond the accepted rule of expediency. " The medical profession in France bear simi- lar testimony ; for the ' Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicates'—a work of which it would be high treason in Paris to doubt .the authenticity — after detailing at length the effects of tobacco amongst the workmen employed in the government facto- ries (for in France it is a monopoly of the State), goes on to say : " The abuse of tobacco is the same as of all other pleasures of excitement, AND WHAT IT DOES. 95 whether excesses of various kinds, strong liquors, and so forth (comme de celui de toutes lesjouis- sances par irritation, comme de la masturbation, de Tabus desfemmes, des liqueurs fortes, &c), and that it is astonishing that more numerous evils are not the result.' Again : ' Parents can- not too much oppose the fearful custom of using tobacco ; often they allow it to begin with a cul- pable facility, and they do not appear to foresee the evils to which they deliver the youth whom they permit to contract this baneful habit; often thoughtlessly recommended for some trifling ail- ment, the use of it is continued for the remainder of his days.' 96 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS CHAPTER XI. Tobacco in the same category with intoxicating liquors.— Extracts from Professor Miller, and Dr. Marshal Hall.— Nicotin employed for murder. The more recent writers upon tobacco place it in the same category with intoxicating liquors, and no disinterested observer will find fault with that assignment; and it is impossible to say which of the two is doing the most mischief at the pre- sent time. The evils which follow the use of to- bacco are less glaring and.frightful, and therefore often wholly overlooked by common observers. When some notorious drunkard is found frozen to death after a cold winter night, with a bottle in his pocket, or is seen to die by the way-side in a fit of intoxication, no one will mistake the cause of his death ; but because tobacco produces no AND WHAT IT DOES. 97 such appalling spectacles it is too often thought to be entirely harmless, and very few will stop to listen to anything that may be said against its use. And yet it may be said that with few ex- ceptions, all the great medical philosophers of modern times have united in deprecating its use ; and it is worthy of remark that different individ- uals situated far apart, and under different cir- cumstances have come to similar conclusions upon the subject, and if anything more were needed this coincidence would add to the importance of such statements. Dr. James Miller, Professor of Surgery in the University of Edinburg, and Surgeon in Ordinary- to the Queen for Scotland, in a work of his recent- ly published, says: " Tobacco is one of the most powerful of poi- sons. Give it, even in small doses, to a child, or to one of any age unaccustomed to its use, and its taste will be found unpleasant, while the effects will ye nauseous and disgusting. But habit brings a change in these respects. After a time of 98 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS longer or shorter probation, and after perhaps no little sickness and distress in the course of it, the recipient of the tobacco—whether it be in fume, or powder, or solid mass — comes to find a strange pleasure and fascination in its use. And many a man, and woman too — nay, even many a stripling — would almost as soon want their dai- ly meal, as their accustomed cigar or pipe. " Now, what are the consequences of this ac- quired habit; Plainly three, at least, may be enu- merated : 1. Harm, more or less, is done to the individ- ual. The theory of the law of tolerance, already alluded to, shows that; and the proof may readi- ly be completed by adducing the result of expe- rience. In confirmed and excessive smokers, for instance, the tongue soon shows signs of disorder in the general lining of the alimentary canal; the drain on the saliva — run to waste — causes thirst; and the stomach gives plain token of an impaired digestion. The hand shakes ; there is a peculiar expression of the eye ; the heart palpitates; and AND WHAT IT DOES. 99 the entire nervous system is evidently impaired in tone. This is bad enough ; but worse may follow. Local diseases, of the most serious kind, may attack the mouth ; and one or both limbs may become more or less completely paralyzed. " No absolutely healthy man daily consumes to- bacco, in any form, or in any considerable quan- tity. If he seem to bear it with impunity, it is simply because, by previous use of the drug, he has induced a perverted or morbid state of sys - tern, to which further continuance of the drug's use brings at least a temporary relief. II. " The man becomes a slave. For a time he has gone on swimmingly with his " weed." But, by-and-by, he thinks to leave it off, on account of its expense, perhaps, or its inconvenience, or a sense of mischief done. But he finds it easier to acquire than to abandon — to take up than to lay down. There are two at the bargain-making in either case ; but at the beginning and the end their respective positions are reversed. III. "The evil, through your influence and ex.- 100 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS ample, is extended to others. Not only is harm done to yourself, but, by giving a character and commonness to the practice, you are the means of entrapping the unwary, and thereby extending the evil. You see little ragged urchins on the street clubbing their few pence to purchase tobac- co and a pipe ; then they congregate in some convenient stair, and, striking a light, take whiff and whiff about, till either sick or satisfied. They don't like the smell of the weed, far less its taste ; and how comes it that they give the.nselves this trouble ? Simply because they see their fathers and big brothers do the same, and they think it manly. Or see that breeched boy, with a hat and cane, fresh from his mother's apron-string— lounging on the portico, or strolling on the lawn, or swaggering even on the street, striving hard to seem at ease behind that enormous cigar—almost as big as himself — which seems rather to be smoking him than he it. Do you think that he would ever have ventured on such a bold experi- ment, unless he had seen men, gentlemen, sen- AND WHAT IT DOES. 101 sible-looking gentlemen, such as you, similarly employed." Again, speaking of the effects of smoking, the same author says: " Some bear up under this, without much out- ward sign of physical evil, as hard drinkers in this country may do; but in general the con- firmed " victim " may not conceal his chain and shackles. His body grows weak and emaciated, his complexion sallow, his eye sunk and listless, his features haggard; his body stoops, and ex- presses strongly, in every movement, a prema- ture old age ; the mind is weak and fitful; and the moral tone is both lowered and led astray. This is the period of complete abject enslavement; and the man that, starting from his danger, would struggle to be free, must face an amount of ef- fort, as regards both body and mind, that is all but overwhelming. One in a thousand may es- cape, as brands plucked from the burning. " What sane and sober man will tamper with a drug like this, encountering such a risk for such 102 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS a boon ? Yet it is done by thousands in other climes; a. like thing is done by thousands more among ourselves — all under the plea of luxury /" Dr. Marshal Hall, one of the greatest medical philosophers of the present time says : " It is plain that tobacco acts upon the cerebrum, the medulla oblongata, and the heart; its effects are stupidity, defective breathing, defective action of the heart—forms of debility and impaired ener- gy." The gradual and insidious manner by which tobacco operates deceives the common observer. Morbid changes t are taking place in the system, but they are for the most part out of sight, and therefore they create no alarm. If an inveterate smoker or chewer is not cut off by casualty or some acute disease, he may perhaps live to com- parative old age, and when finally he dies, he is supposed to have reached the utmost limit of his natural life; and yet, an anatomical examination might show to a scientific observer that the man who died at sixty, might probably have lived to eighty if he had been prudent. AND WHAT IT DOES. 103 When one dies by consumption, schirrhus, dropsy, marasmus, cancer, or any other disease brought on by the use of tobacco, none but medi- cal men look back of the disease to the cause which produced it, and therefore the real source of the mischief passes unnoticed, and the man who has committed a slow suicide is supposed to have died by some mysterious dispensation of Provi- dence. It has been ascertained that Nicotin, which is the poisonous alkaloid of tobacco has sometimes been employed like prusic acid for the purpose of murder. A few years ago a French nobleman by the name of Bocarme, poisoned his brother- in-law by giving him nicotin in disguise, and was subsequently convicted of the murder, and hanged. 104 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS CHAPTER XII. The free UBe of tobacco produces Individualism. The evils which proceed from the use of tobac- co are not always so obvious or so well under- stood as those that arise from the use of intoxi- cating liquors, so that the masses do not appear to be fully aware of all its most deplorable con- sequences. One of these is a tendency to indi- vidualism. Tobacco, more than any other narcotic known, tends to dissolve the domestic and social ties. Its influence upon the intellectual and moral facul- ties must vary with the amount used, the mode in which it is employed, the age, condition, and cir- cumstances of the individual. If smoking is not the most injurious method, it certainly is not the AND WHAT IT DOES. 105 least. The life of a confirmed smoker is an ab- straction—he is wholly wrapped up in himself — whilst the brain is overpowered with tobacco his existence seems like a blissful dream, and so long as these pleasurable sensations continue he has little desire for social intercourse, unless, prompted by motives of self interest; his attach- ment to his pipe or cigar is of the strongest kind, his domestic and social propensities become more or less smothered in that oblivious element, and the attention and affection that he should mani- fest toward a wife, child, friend or society is be- stowed upon this poisonous weed. His better half is tobacco ; and to this he looks for a large portion of his enjoyment. He may plight his troth to some lovely female on the bridal altar, but let her remember that he is already wedded to tobacco, and if that connection is not wholly dissolved, her share in his affections will be sure to decline. * Nicotiana never coquets, and her love once gained is not easily thrust aside. Tobacco. a 106 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS The free use of tobacco commenced early in life is pretty sure to destroy all the masculine powers and propensities. Dr. Laycock, Profes- sor of the Practice of Physic in the University of Edinburgh says: " If such an one marry he de- ceives his wife, and disposes her to infidelity, and exposes himself to ignominy and scorn." Again he says : " If, therefore, ladies suffici- ently value their own happiness, and the health and happiness of their families, they ought not to marry smokers; nor should they trust the pro- mises of reformation which such persons may make as they arc seldom kept." There is abundant reason to believe that the free use of tobacco in any form early in life, by either sex, tends to disqualify such persons for the duties aftd responsibilities of matrimony. This may be new doctrine to some, but the proof is too abundant. We have only to consider the loose manner in which the conjugal relation is now held, the smallness of families compared with forty or fifty years ago, the slow increase of com- AND WHAT IT DOES. 107 munities and districts by natural population. Look at the alarming and continually increasing catalogues of legal divorces announced at the close of every judicial term, and the still greater number of voluntary separations! Why is so much sterility and effeminacy observed among those who are constantly feasting upon tobacco? The statistics of different countries appear to show that everywhere, in proportion as the use of tobacco has increased, natural population has decreased. From 1841 to 1846, 1,200,000 children were born in France; but in the same number of years, from 1851 to 1856, only 256, 000 were born; and it is said that in Spain the decrease is about in the same proportion, and it is probable that some districts in the United States could give but little better account of them- selves. Before cigars were seen, as they are now, in the mouth of almost every lad over a dozen years of age, nearly every young man, whatever might be his circumstances as to property, as 108 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS soon as he became of age married, and com- menced business and housekeeping for himself; large, healthy, industrious, and prosperous fami- lies sprung up, towns and cities were built, and every kind of business was prosecuted with ener- gy. Such families were the nurseries of genius, science and enterprise ; from them sprang states- men and heroes ; the strong, sound, and good men of the nation, the pillars of the church, and the conservators of civil and religious freedom; they lived to bless their race ; enjoyed life them- selves and handed it down to others. But now, our streets are filled with effeminate, smoking bachelors, who drown all their manliness in oblivious tobacco; they appear to suppose that the great business of life is to smoke. Beguiled by its lethean influence they allow the vigor of youth to glide away before they are ready to commence the w*>rld in earnest; life's morning is spent in a dream, and its evening in premature senility. The anliphrodisiac-effects of tobacco were dis- AND WHAT IT DOES. 109 covered long ago. Amurath the fourth, Emperor of Turkey, who lived in the early part of the seventeenth century, became so much alarmed on that account that he feared that it would event- ually depopulate his empire, and therefore pro- hibited smoking by severe penalties. Not far from the same time, James the first, of England issued his denunciation against tobacco in a pub- lication called " The Counter-blast," but the re- sult has shown that mankind are ever more in- clined to be governed by appetite than by law, or reason. A writer in the London Lancet for Feb., 1856 says: " If the evil of smoking ended with the individual who, by the indulgence of a pernicious custom, injures his own health, and impairs his faculties of mind and body, he might be left to his enjoyments — his fools paradise — unmolest- ed. This, however is not the case : in no in- stance is the sin of the father more strikingly visited upon his children, than the sin of tobacco smoking. The enervation, the hypochondriasis, 110 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS the hysteria, the insanity, the dwarfish deformi- ties, the consumption, the suffering lives and early deaths of the children of inveterate smokers bear ample testimony to the feebleness and un- soundness of the constitution transmitted by this pernicious habit." Dr. Higginbottom of Nottingham, says: says : " After fifty years of most extensive and varied practice in my profession, I have come to the decision, that smoking is a main cause of ruining our young men, pauperizing the working- men, and rendering comparatively useless the best efforts of ministers of religion." Some of the Sultans and Bashaws of the East- ern nations as has been before observed, make use of very long pipes with spiral tubes which are sometimes so contrived as to pass the smoke through cold water before it reaches the lungs. This curious pipe is called the Hookah. The fol- lowing is an extract from a poem published in Paris some years ago. AND WHAT IT DOES. Ill The Seignior of the East is truly blest, By slaves attended as he lies at rest ; Some at his side rich floods of Mocha pour, Till with their extasy his soul runs o'er ; Others obedient, waiting at his feet, The hookah bring to make his joy complete. Wond'rous invention, first by wealth bespoke, To cool far luxury the heated smoke, To make it slow through scented waters pass, And cool itself in twisting tubes of glass — Quit what's impure, and all that's acrid leave, So that the lord shall only bliss receive. He makes his hookah equal to his wife, Both his mere adjuncts of voluptuous life ; Pure from the bath, perfumed, and full of grace, Both meet his kisses and his warm embrace. 112 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS CHAPTER XIII. Mental operations checked or suspended by the use of tobacco.—Persons accustomed to its use seldom abandon it.—Communication from Benjamin Silliman, M. D. L. L. D. Several years ago an English Surgeon by the name of McDonald announced as the result of his observations, that, as long as an individual is earnestly engaged in inhaling tobacco smoke he is incapable, for the time being, of mental exer- cise. Dr. McDonald says : " I may mention a curious fact, not generally known, but which re- quires only to be tried to be proven, viz: that no smoker can think steadily or continuously on any subject while smoking. He cannot follow out a train of ideas— to do so he must lay aside his pipe." The truth of this proposition appears AND WHAT IT DOES. 113 to be confirmed both by observation and physio- logical investigations. Dr. Lacock, of London, in an article published in the London Times, says : " On the brain the action of tobacco is sedative. It appears to di- minish the rapidity of cerebral action, and check the flow of ideas." It has long been known that pressure upon the cerebrum either from external or internal agen- cies, produced instantaneous insensibility, which might be momentary, or permanent according to the nature or duration of the cause. Dr. John W. Draper, professor of Chemisrty and Physiology in the University Medical College, New York, says : " Pressure upon the brain, eith- er applied mechanically or through accidental effusion, produces at once functional inactivity, probably by interference with the due circulation of the blood; and in like manner, any marked change in the chemical relations of that fluid ex- erts on the brain a corresponding effect." A Tit- tle observation will be sufficient to convince any 114 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS one that Dr. McDonald's proposition is mainly correct, and, that during the time occupied by an individual in filling his system with the noxious effluvia of tobacco his mental powers must be at a stand still. If we should notice an inveterate smoker we should see him ever and anon remov- ing the cigar from his mouth ; this seems to be a kind of instintive operation in order to relieve the brain from the overpowering effect of the lethean sedative, and give the individual time to think. This idea may be new to many but it certainly deserves serious consideration as it goes to show the debilitating and dementing effects of tobacco upon the brain. After commenting upon the mis- chiefs which follow the use of tobacco, Dr. Mc- Donald says: " In conclusion I may state, that the germs of premature decay which the abuse of tobacco is spreading through the country, will ultimately, in my opinion, prove more overwhelm- ing than even the serious abuse of intoxicating liquors." So far as the testimony of the ablest and best AND WHAT IT DOES. 115 of men both in Europe and America can go, all the evils that we have charged to the use of tobac- co are fully established, and no additional amount of testimony would strengthen the propositions; the proof is abundant and incontrovertable that the improper use of tobacco tends to produce physical, intellectual, and moral impotency ; and that these effects are most obvious, and most de- plorable, when the habit is acquired and persisted in early in life. Some persons have become addicted to the habit of taking opium daily from having first used it in sickness to allay pain or procure sleep ; and many others have become drunkards from hav- ing used gin, wine, brandy, or bitters as a medi cine ; but the votaries of tobacco can offer no such extenuatirg plea. The young lad seizes a cigar and puts it to his mouth because, and only because, he sees others do so. In the beginning it is nothing but an idle habit without any neces- sity, or utility for its excuse ; but the habit gains strength by continuance, and by degrees attaches 116 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS itself to the victim ; the longer the practice is con- tinued the more difficult it is to break away from it. The individual looses his proper self control and gives himself up to a mischievous habit be- cause he has not sufficient resolution, and manly independence, to cast it off". Almost every nox- ious substance seems to possess the power of fastning itself upon its victim; it is so with the deluded wretches among some of the eastern na- tions who eat arsenic, or swallow the juice of Cannibus Indica, and it is so everywhere with those who drink alcohol, take opium or any other stupefying narcotic. This shows the danger of tampering with any such noxious agents ; and also the great importance of guarding the young against them. How few old drinkers or old smokers ever reform 1 After the shackles are riveted upon the victim admonitions and entreaties are generally useless, and it is doubtless much easier to prevent twenty from adopting any such pernicious habit than it is to reclaim one invete- rate smoker or drinker. AND WHAT IT DOES. 117 The following is an extract from a letter to the author from the Hon. Benjamin Silliman, M. D. L. L. D., Emeritus, Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy in Yale College. " I am willing that you should quote me as de- cidedly hostile to the use of tobacco. I believe it is highly injurious to health, although its dele- terious effects may not be fully apparent untrl the habit has become so firmly established that it becomes very difficult to break away from it. It rarely happens that a person who uses tobacco habitually, enjoys good health ; and maladies are produced by it which are usually ascribed to other causes. In a social view the habit is filthy and disgusting — In amoral view the cigar is often the pioneer to vicious society and intemperance. If I see a young man smoking, especially in the streets, I am alarmed and think him in danger." Professor Silliman is too well known throughout the entire literary world to need any eulogium from us; his extensive attainments, long experience, and high moral standing entitle his remarks to paramount importance. 118 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS CHAPTER XIV. Tobacco a source of revenue in France.—One evil made to support another.—Bum and tobacco as luxuries.—Do they add to the real enjoyments of life ?—Early history of tobacco. Prohibitions ineffectual.—The odious cha- racter of growing tobacco.—etc In France the tobacco trade is regulated by the government and is made the source of na- tional revenue, therefore it is carefully watched and encouraged. The Emperor and Empress both smoke by way of encouragement; it is dealt out to every soldier as a part of his daily rations, the highest civil and military functionaries, the clergy and the laity, professors and students, artisans, mechanics, and common laborers, all follow the example and contribute their proportion to swell the national revenue. Every cigar, and every AND what it does. 119 ounce of tobacco consumed pays tribute to the government. Under this system the consumption of tobacco in France is continually increasing, and at the present time it is said to yield an an- nual income to the government of more than 100,000,000 of francs, which is supposed to be about one fifteenth of the whole national revenue. This tax falls heavily upon the poorer classes, and contributes largely to depress and pauperize them ; yet it would be deemed almost high trea- son to speak against it anywhere within the juris- diction of that empire. By such means one great evil is made to support another, and the curse of tobacco is made to support the curse of war. The aged, decrepid, and the maimed, with helpless women and children, such as can render their country no other service, manifest their loyalty by smoking, that they may help France to trans- port the flower of her youth to fields of slaughter in foreign kingdoms. Happily for us the people of the United States are not subject to any such morbid influence. Our 120 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS young men fear no arbitrary conscription that may take them from their homes and their friends to die by foreign bayonets, nor are they required to give their earnings for the support of royalty. Under God every one is the arbiter of his own for- tune ; he is free to regulate his conduct, and ex- ercise his powers in such manner as is most con- ducive to his own honor and happiness, and his success and prosperity in life are made to depend much upon the evils which he avoids. The very common idea that spirituous liquors are indispensable as medicinal agents has done much to baffle the cause of temperance, but no such reason can be urged for tobacco, as none but the most reprehensible quacks ever employ it now in medical practice : it is sometimes made use of by drovers and herdsmen to kill lice on cattle, but that is no good reason why men should eat it. It is no comfort in sickness, for even those who take it freely in health always positively re- fuse it when they are sick. Many appear to suppose that rum and tobacco AND WHAT IT DOES. 121 add greatly to the enjoyment of life : then why should the male sex claim all the benefit of those blissful agents; why should not woman be allowed her equal share in these necessary creature com- forts ? The answer is that every intelligent pure- minded female scorns the proffered aid of such artificial stimulants, and looks for happiness in more rational enjoyments. The truth is, neither rum nor tobacco employed as luxurious stimu- lants adds in the least degree to the sum total of human happiness, but a multitude of evils are liable to follow their use. Some may ask: may not a person smoke a little occasionally without injury ? The answer is, tobacco whenever, and however taken, is al- ways a poison; and he that has the least to do with it is certainly the best off. The gallant General Markham, who was not long ago with the English army in India, never used tobacco himself nor allowed his personal staff to do so, and after extensive observations both in civil and Military life he made the follow- H 122 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS ing statement as the result of his experience. " I may be mistaken, but I believe that all our greatest men—I mean intellectually — states- men, lawyers, warriors, physicians, and surgeons, have either not been smokers, or if smokers, that they have died prematurely." All that is known of the early history of tobac- co is, that when this continent was first discovered this vegetable was found to be in use among the aborigines. History says: " They employed it as incense in their sacrificial fires, believing that the odor of it was greatful to their gods. The priests of some tribes swallowed the smoke of the plant to excite in them a spirit of divination, and this they did to a degree which threw them into a stupor of many hours continuance. When recovered from this fit of intoxication, they asserted that they had held a conference with the devil, and had learned from him the course of human events. Their phy- sicians also got inebriated with the smoke, and pretended that while under the influence of this intoxication they were admitted to the council of AND WHAT IT DOES. 123 the gods, who revealed to them the event of di- seases." * From the aspect and sensible properties of tobacco one might be led to infer that the Most High had forbidden its use by the force of natu- ral laws. The green plant is always extremely obnoxious and offensive to all the senses. When first seen, with the most odious of all vermin crawling upon its leaves, we are reminded of those noxious vegetables which fabulists tell us are found on the borders of the Dead Sea. But in its man- ufactured state much of its repulsive character is lost, although it still retains all its deadly principles. So far as we know, its first introduction among any people has ever been opposed by both civil and ecclesiastical authorities. James the First, of England besides writing a book against it, for- bid its use by severe penalties. Urban the Eighth, issued a papal decree against it. Russia, Turkey, Sweeden and many other monarchies endeavored to banish it forever from their dominions by sum- * Bigelow's Nature in Disease. 124 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS mary prohibitions. The early Puritans strenu- ously opposed it, and the Old Colony of Massachu- setts repeatedly passed laws against it. The early records of Harvard University show that the faculty of that institution intended to exclude it by ordaining that, "No scholar shall take tobacco, unless permitted by the president, with the con- sent of their parents and guardians, and on good reason first given by a physician, and then in a sober and piivate manner. But in sphe of the mandates of sovereigns and the bulls of popes — in opposition^ all civil and ecclesiastical authority, the cultivation and em- ployment of this noxious plant have increased with surprising rapidity, until its pernicious effects are felt in all parts of the world. The sensual propensities of men have bid defiance to all laws, and despised all restraints until the article of tobac- co has become an important item in the agricul- tural, commercial and manufacturing interests of the world. Its acme is not probably yet reached, and its destructive effects upon the human race AND WHAT IT DOES. 125 admit of no computation. As we have said be- fore when the plant has arrived to a state of ma- turity the tobacco field is a most unwholesome and disagreeable sight. All other cultivated grounds are more or less pleasant and desirable: fields of growing grain, pastures, meadows, orchards and "gardens, fruit and shade trees, all seem lovely, and calculated to awaken sentiments of admira- tion and gratitude in the beholder; but the sight of a tobacco field is the very reverse of this. As we approach it an instinctive sense of desolation creaps over us, and we feel as though treading upon forbidden ground. In its aspect the tobacco plant is the most odious and repulsive of all vege- tables." No beast or bird, wild or tame, will ever taste it—no living creature except a horrid kind of vermin that is found no where else is ever seen upon it — to all who are not familiar with the sight its pale green foilage, with its unctuous surface, is nauseous and sickening in the extreme ; and if the spectator does not immediately turn away in disgust, he may be made giddy by the maddening 126 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS exhalations which hover over these lurid fields, and imagine himself standing upon the margin of some modern Asphaltides, surrounded with hissing serpents, their forky tongues vibrating from be- neath every slimy leaf. Although tobacco flourishes best in a sultry atmosphere yet this curse of the vegetable king- dom seems almost to bid defiance to climate, and is cultivated and thrives in the cold regions of New England. This very year 1860, in a limited district on the borders of the Connectticut River, it is said that there are about two thousand acres of cultivated tobacco; and estimating the average product per acre to be fifteen hundred pounds the whole crop in that district will amount to fif- teen htindred tons, and this is a mere trifle com- pared with the annual product of the state of Vir- ginia : besides it is raised in many other places both north and south in the United States, and is also cultivated in amost every other warm coun- try on the globe. That which is raised in cold regions is more pungent and acrid, than that AND WHAT IT DOES. 127 which grows in the West Indies and other hot countries, it is not considered so delicious, and consequently does not bring so high a price. Notwithstanding tobacco is so highly offensive to all the senses — notwithstanding its known poisonous qualitias, and its acknowledged per- nicious effects upon mankind, there are always men enough ready to cultivate it, and work it through all its stages and conditions until it is ready for the consumer; and yet in all the vast amount produced there is not a single particle of food or medicine — nothing that is capable of sustaining life, or supplying any of the natural wants of the system; but every leaf, and stalk and petal, is charged with a threefold poison—it is the American Upas — the bane of the world. In some of our northern states the cultivation of tdbacco is rapidly increasing. Rich meadows which lately smiled with waving corn, rye, wheat and onions, now produce nothing but the noisesome tobacco: fields which once supplied thousands with wholesome food, are now loaded with poison for millions. 128 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS CHAPTER XV. Tobacco inclines the mind to Infidelity. There can be no doubt we think that the long continued use of great quantities of tobacco is likely to have an unhappy effect upon the moral faculties; and many believe that it strongly in- clines the mind to religious infidelity. The fol- lowing are some of the considerations which lead to that belief. In general, wherever tobacco is most used, in- fidelity is most prevalent. This does not appear to be a mere casual coincidence, because there seems to be an obvious relation between the cause and this effect. When the brain and nerv- ous system are constantly kept under the inebri- ating influence of tobacco, the individuafbecomes • AND WHAT IT DOES. 129 constitutionally a sensualist. Tobacco feeds and nurses the animal, at the expense of the intel- lectual man, and the dreamy stupor which it in- duces inclines the mind to skepticism and infi- delity. Under its beguiling influence the heed- less votary seems by degrees to loose the image of his Maker, and descend in the scale of beings towards the brutes that perish —human life comes to be regarded as an insulation—a temporary existence to terminate like the explosion of a rocket. Under its lethean influence men seem inclined to forget their moral accountability, and surrender themselves, soul, body and mind to a depraving sensuality—the great end of life is for- gotten ; or if some intuitive sense of immortality is felt, it looks forward to nothing higher than a perpetuation of animal enjoyment; a Mahomedan paradise appears to be his highest aspirations. It is not pretended that all who use tobacco are necessarily infidels, nor that all who do not use it are necessarily christians, but a careful obser- vation of its effects upon the brain and nervous 130 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS system favors the belief that the use of tobacco when persisted in for any considerable length of time tends to depress, and smother the highest and noblest sentiments and aspirations of our na- ture, and drag the mind down to a grovelling ma- terialism; and this idea is greatly strengthened by observations abroad. The annual consump- tion of tobacco in France almost exceeds belief: reliable statistics show that in the year 1854 the city of Paris alone smoked, snuffed and chewed, no less than 3,000,000 lbs, or one thousand five hundred tons of tobacco, at a cosf of 17,72."),263 francs; and ninety eight per cent of this immense quantity was consumed by smoking. Here as we might expect, a stubborn infidelity pervades all classes ; like a moral mildew its blighting effects extend over all that mighty empire ; everywhere the Sabbath is disregarded or only observed as a holiday ; instead of the sound of Sabbath bells her streets resound with the clarion of war; and neither business, nor revelling give place to re- ligious worship. Their statistics show that of the AND WHAT IT DOES. 131 whole number of children annually born in France, about one third are illegitimate; matri- monial and family ties appear to be held lightly or wholly disregarded; and beneath the clouds of tobacco smoke that fill every city and hamlet the darkest atheism lives and broods. Larnartine says : "I know — I sigh when I think of it — that hitherto the French people have been the least religious of all the nations of Europe. The great men of other countries live and die on the scen% of, history, looking up to Heaven ; but our great men appear to live and die, forgetting com- pletely the only idea for which it is worth living and dying.—History wilj> have the air of an athe- ist when she recounts to posterity these annihi- lations rather than -deaths of celebrated men in the greatest year of France:—The victims only have a God ; the tribunes and lictors have none. Look at Mirabeau on the bed of death—' Crown me with flowers,' said he, 'intoxicate me with perfumes, let me die to the sound of delirious music' Not a word of God or his soul; sen- 132 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS sual philosopher: He desired only supreme sen- sualism, a last volumptuousness in his agony. Hear Danton on the platform of the scaffold at the distance of a line from eternity, ' I have had a good time of it, let me go to sleep.' His faith annihilation, his last sigh vanity !" In Germany the use of tobacco has increased with almost unparalleled rapidity during the last twenty five years, and here its connection with infidelity is strikingly illustrated ; once Germany believed in God and a Divine Revelatio#, but now the corroding influence of tobacco seems to have eaten out all the once elevated moral sensi- bilities of the people, and left nothing but a cold materialism and the most grovelling propensities ; spellbound beneath this moral plague she pre- sents a sad example to the christian world. In Spain a nominal Christianity is still main- tained by force of law, but its spirit and vitality appear to have passed away, and nothing but the abrogation of an imperial edict seems wanting to plunge the whole nation into the darkest atheism. AND WHAT IT DOES. 133 The all pervading influence of tobacco like a moral incubus, stifles every living thought and principle, and paralyzes every progressive effort. Let the historian watch the progress of tobacco- smoking in any part of the world and he may see at the same time the equal march of infidel- ity. If we look at the United States we see smoking and an oblivious infidelity moving for- ward with the same measured strides ; look any- where, and the more we examine the subject the more we shall be satisfied that the use of tobacco promotes domestic, social, civil and religious in- fidelity. It is probable that many who are well satisfied of the injury done to the animal system by tobacco will be very slow to believe that it has any influ- ence whatever upon the mind and moral conduct. The idea, though not entirely new, may yet, be in advance,of the age, and it will undoubtedly meet with severe criticism. Yet it is obvious that narco- tics do effect the mind and moral powers in various way-!. Alcoholic liquors generally excite anger; 134 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS one partially intoxicated is strongly inclined to quarrel, his organ of combativeness is aroused, he is courageous and courts controversy, and a very large portion of all the murders are com- mitted under its maddening influence. But the di- rect effect of tobacco is quieting, the Calumet is a token of peace and enduring friendship. Strychnine excites one class of propensities, and Belladonna another. The votaries of opium and tobacco experience a sad depression of spirits when the happifying stimulus has passed of; and ;he morbid agent must be frequently repeated or the victim is unhappy. Deprived of his accus- tomed anodyne he " feels an aching void which nothing else can fill." In these dark hours the man is out of love with life — all his recollections of the past, and all his visions of the future are filled with gloomy spectres—existence seems a burthen. When these paroxisms of extreme de- pression are repeated often, and continued long, they strongly incline the individual to self de- struction ; accordingly we find that suicides are AND WHAT IT DOES. 135 most numerous where narcotics are most used. In the work of self destruction, tobacco comes in for a share. According to reliable statistics the average annual number of suicides committed in France is about three thousand, being sometimes above, and sometimes balow that number. Suicide, unless the victim is absolutely insane, is practical atheism; it is a solemn denial of all the truths of religion, and the awful result to which the loss of moral principle may lead. It is true that these are only extreme cases, yet they indicate the general tendency of such morbid influences. The power of persistant tobacco inebriation to deprave the moral faculties is now attracting the attention of medical, and moral philosophers. In some European dioceses the bishops will not ad- mit any to confirmation who are known to use tobacco; and some of the Methodist conferences in the United States have recently refused to li- cense for the ministry any candidates who use tobacco. Leading members of the Society of 136 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS Friends have long regarded tobacco as having a demoralizing tendency, and earnestly opposed its use. So it appears that the evil is seen, and the reformation attempted where it should be, at the fountain heads. AND WHAT IT DOES. 137 CHAPTER XVI. Drugging cigars for felonious purposes—They may be- come the medium of communicating a noisome disease. —Extracts from Drs. Johnson and Solly, etc. Several years ago American travellers found that in some foreign countries, crafty knaves sometimes drugged cigars with some stupefying poison in order to rob or murder their victim, whilst he remained in a state of profound insensi- bility. Among the articles employed for that purpose, Opium, Indian Hemp, Hemlock, and Deadly-Nightshade were found; any of these might be rolled up with the tobaeco-leaf, and the appearance of the cigar so made would not be- tray the villany; but whoever smoked one of them soon became giddy, and sunk in a short time into a profound coma, and became an easy i 138 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS prey to his diabolical captor. The Editor of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, whilst travelling abroad, says: " I suppose that it is Hemp, and not Opium, as generally supposed, with which cigars are drugged, and made the in- struments in the hands of designing men in Lon- don and other great cities on the continent for the perpetration of many dreadful crimes." As might have been expected, eastern pick- pockets and felons were not long allowed the ex- clusive benefit of this infernal discovery, but quick as thought American desperadoes seized upon it and put it in practice. Armed with these deadly weapons, demons in human shape prowl about, watching for victims. If an unsuspecting individual takes one of these poisoned cigars, perhaps before it is half used up he is stupefied, robbed, and left to recover or die as the case may be, and the perpetrators of the villany pass on un- molested. There is much reason to believe that instances of this kind are not uncommon in some of our large cities. The stranger who is known AND WHAT IT DOES. 139 to have money about him perils his life if he takes a cigar at a gambling saloon or other place of doubtful reputation. This is a most dangerous, and horrid species of villany ; the assassin needs neither bludgeon, pistol, nor knife ; nothing but a few cigars of ordinary external appearance, but charged within with death. Thus disguised, the most guilty wretches may walk our streets with fearless impunity, perpetrate their villanies and go unpunished. Another frightful consequence sometimes fol- lows the use of cigars: in large tobacco manu- factories persons of loose morals and filthy habits are very liable to be employed, and cigars made by such hands do sometimes contain the virus of a foul disease, and by this means that horrible affection is said to be sometimes communicated to innocent and unsuspecting lips. Upon this subject, Dr. Johnson writing for the London Lan- cet, Jan. 1859, says : " It is certain that devoted smokers are liable to both constitutional and local disorders of very serious characters. Among the 140 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS former we notice, giddiness, sickness, vomiting, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, angina pectoris, diseases of the liver, pancreas, and heart, nervousness, amaurosis, paralysis, apoplexy, atrophy, deaf- ness, and mania. Amongst the latter, ulceration of the lips — not unfrequently of a syphilitic character from the morbid matter introduced into the healthy subject by smoking infected cigars, or by pipes which have been used by infected persons." That such things are liable to happen is a well established principle in medical jurisprudence, and it is presumed that many such anomalous cases have occurred, which have been mistaken for cancerous, or scrophulcus affections, and at- tended with ulcerations of the lips, cheeks, throat and tonsils, followed by other characteristic developments. On this subject, Dr. Solly of London, says: "I have been asked to produce facts in proof of the deleterious effects of tobacco, and facts in abun- dance shall be forthcoming when I have had a AND WHAT IT DOES. 141 record kept of its effects in my hospital cases; but the facts which I have now by me being pri- vate cases, contain details the relation of which would involve a breach of confidence which nothing would justify." Those who will not re- gard such hints as these must be either reckless or dull of apprehension. The American savage gave the European tobacco, and in return the European gave the savage the most foul of all diseases, and never did hostile nations inflict more severe, or lasting injuries upon each-other : each carries with it a perpetual tendency to exterminate the race. Since we commenced this manual we have been informed that snuff-taking still exists in some lo- calities to a greater extent than we had supposed, affd that besides the ordinary manner of using it, this filthy powder is sometimes taken into the mouth by females, and used as men do junk tobacco; and that in some instances ladies of rank, thrust a large pinch of snuff into the mouth before going out in the afternoon, or evening, for 142 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS the purpose of creating a temporary excitement. We are told also, that some ladies rub their teeth and gums with snuff, either alone or mixed with some other powder, under the mistaken impres- sion that it preserves the teeth from decay, and, that it is often used in that way until those who so employ it learn to love it, and continue its use for the sake of its exhilarating effect; it is said also that little girls, not more than eight, or ten years of age, have sometimes learnt to immitate their older sisters and purchase snuff to eat, as some boys do rum to drink. But we presume that these are only solitary instances, and that the great body of American ladies are free from the sin of tobacco ; we are sure that the passion for snuff-taking is fast passing away, it is hoped, never to be revived again. AND WHAT IT DOES. 143 CHAPTER XVII. Considerations connected with reform. The power of tobacco over its victim is a sub- ject for serious consideration. The habit is gen- erally commenced in a thoughtless manner, with- out any regard to future consequences. At first the article may be used only occasionally, and taken up and laid down at pleasure, with a per- fect unconcern— the individual has no idea of contrating any fixed habit; but his desire for the article increases with its use, its power steals over him secretly, and when he thinks that he can break off, and makes the attempt, he finds to his surprise that it is next to an impossibility to do so — he has played with a viper until he is bitten, yet he is enchanted and cannot fly from it At 144 TOBACCO WHAT IT IS, first, a goddes seemed to lead him gently in the dance, and surround him with gaity and pleasure, but the arm that first embraced him so fondly refuses at length to let him go. Whilst the heed- less votary fed upon golden dreams unseen hands bound him with chains and he has become a cap- tive, and his escape i i attended with difficulty and uncertainty. If he attempts to rid himself of this bosom enemy he is depressed in spirits and un- happy — unexpected troubles suddenly spring up around him — the demon Nicotin haunts him, and his hand as if moved by some invisible power, is continually searching his pockets for tobacco; the man has lost his wonted self control, and after suffering in this way for a time he generally yields to the imperious demands of a morbid ap- petite. Universal experience proves that when the habit is once firmly established scarcely one in a thousand ever wholly abandon it; and it too often happens when tobacco is given up that some intoxicating drink is taken as a substitute. History shows the power of this habit in the AND WHAT IT DOES. 145 utter futility of all civil and ecclesiastical prohibi- tions, and it must now be evident that the world can never Le thoroughly reformed by lecturing old smokers and old drinkers; it is true some resolute high-minded men do sometimes break off by the force of their own wills, but the vast mul- titudes which now fill the world with filth and smoke will never be sensibly lessened by such sporadic reformations so long as they continue lo draw into their ranks the young and undefiled. It is believed that most of our American citizens who have arrived to the age of forty or fifty years and have become addicted to the use of tobacco seriously regret that they ever contracted the burthensome habit: they say, they wish they could do without it, but they think they cannot. Dr. Johnson says of English smokers: " I have scarcely ever met with one habitual smoker who did not, in his candid moments, regret his com- mencement of the habit." Now if such is the case should not all parents be careful to guard their own children from con- 146 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS trading the habit ? It is often begun early in life, under the parental roof, and here the pre- cautionary measures should commence. Let them begin in the nursery, and be cultivated by the domestic fireside. Let them form an indis- pensable part of home education, and be enforced both by precept and example. Let them be taught in common schools, and Sabbath schools; and the rising generation be made thoroughly acquainted with the poisonous nature of tobacco, and the manifold evils which arise from its use. Let men of intelligence and character in every rank of society raise their voices againtst it. Let an appeal be made to the common sense, the in- terests, patriotism, religious and moral sentimenta of individuals and communities, and the appeal can not be made in vain. In the United States the province of moral reforms has generally been occupied by men, to the exclusion of the other sex, and this has undoubtedly been one reason why they have often made such meagre progress. The immense power that woman possesses over AND WHAT IT DOES. 147 the religious, moral, and social condition of man- kind in all enlightened and refined communities has seldom been duly appreciated ; and no where else in the wide world is that power greater than in the United States. Here her sanctifying in- fluence is everywhere felt. Here woman is the great conservator, and protector, of all that is pure in morals, and holy in religion — her pro- vince is the heart, and her sceptre virtue. That power once fully brought out against tobacco would be irresistable — the united action of American females would soon banish this nui- sance from the faee of society. The subject is clearly within their province, and deeply con- cerns them. Whenever tobacco is used in a family it is a source of annoyance to the female inmates]—smoking pollutes the whole air from cellar to garret, and from the nursery to the drawing room, and every one within doors is y obliged to inhale more or less of the noxious effluvia. The subtle poison finds its way into every apartment, and carpels, curtains, furniture, 148 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS and clothing become impregnated with it--the murky clouds which the smoker belches out carry with them the effete and morbid matter from his own lungs, and more or less of this gaseous abomination is unavoidably taken in and breathed over again by those about him. If the man chews tobacco his housekeeper will have to perform the delightful task of cleansing spittoons, washing tobacco defilements from floors, carpets, furni- ture and clothing; and relieving his pockets and handkerchief of half used quids and mutilated cigars. Must not such tasks be extremely oner- ous to every delicate and sensitive female, and can any spirited woman submit to such odious indignities without complaining? If one thus situated should scold from morning till night, year in, and year out, we would not blame her. Some quiet men, to avoid anno) ing others, and being annoyed themselves, often retire from company so that free from all interruptions they may enjoy the full fruition of smoking. There, solitary and alone, the whole man seems in AND WHAT IT DOES. 149 statu quo : thus situated he quaffs the etherial ambrosia with all the delight of a self created deity — this is the fool's paradise. Let not the silver tones of pratling children, nor the cheerful greetings of a wife, sister, or friend, disturb him — let no thought of a higher, or purer state in- trude upon his blissful monotony ; but let him take his fill at this lelfiean fountain, and immo- late himself at the shrine of his chosen saint. Our hopes of reformation lie through the diffu- sion of knowledge and the force of reason ; in the cultivation of more refined sentiments, and more exalted aspirations, in the sober second thought of an enlightened and virtuous public; and in the irresistable force of female influence. The more the subject is examined the greater its importance will appear. Reflecting parents will be more careful to guard their children against the pernicious habit — every prudent mother will watch her son with more care and solicitude, and the thoughtful sister will stay the hand of her little brother when he extends it to grasp a cigar. 150 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS When the whole matter comes to be every where clearly understood every consideration of interest, honor, and happiness will be found to stand in array against tobacco, and the poisonous weed will come to be regarded as only fit for sluggards and felons. , Some of the divisions of the Sons of Tem- perance have recently discarded the use of tobac- co. This course is highly commendable and adds to the credit and importance of these grow- ing institutions. Go on, then, we say, in your praiseworthy mission, and teach the world by ex- ample as well as precept. Go on, to encourage the timid, and reclaim the wayward. Go on, to sustain the weak and raise up the fallen. Goon, and bring back the prodigal sons, reunite the broken linko of the family circle, and restore the loved and lost to their friends and society. This is the spirit of genuine philanthrophy — do these things and all mankind will bless you. AND WHAT IT DOES. 151 CHAPTER XVIII. Miscellaneous Obsertations and Reflections. The advocates oAobacco like those who follow any other pernicious habit are continually offer- ing excuses for it. Some tell us " that the prin- ciple harm arising from the use of tobacco is be- cause it does not agree with some constitutions." Acrid poisons are not apt to agree very well or very long with any constitutions. It is true that alcohol, opium, and other deleterious substances manifest their pernicious effects much sooner in some individuals than in others, but this circum- stance is no security to those who show no signs of immediate injury ; the weak and the sensative may fall first, but this should alarm rather than quiet the fears of others — the soldier who is not 152 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS cut down by the first fire will not on that account be out of danger so long as the firing continues \ and we knew of no constitutions that are proof against deadly agents whether in the shape of tobacco, alcohol, arsenic or leaden balls. Again, some physicians tell us that they have seldom or never noticed any very serious evils arising from the use of this article; then we say their optics are very obtuse, "and they are dull of apprehension, or their field of observation has been very limited. Lizars, of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, one of the most strenuous opposers of tobacco, says: " The number of patients frequenting my surgery in the mornings is upwards of 2000 an- nually, and these afford me an extensive field of surgical observation in every department. It would appear that the cigar, or pipe, first pro- duces a small blister of the mucous membrane of the mouth, which, being daily irritated by the pungent weed, progressively ulcerates and be- comes cancerous." AND WHAT IT DOES. 153 It would require a large amount of negative evidence to contradict one such witness as this. What if there are scores of men who know no- thing of the evils which hosts of others have wit- nessed ? such negative testimony amounts to no- thing when so much positive evidence of the most reliable kind is found everywhere and meets us at every turn. Again one assures us that he has often seen, " a sleek negro with his mouth always full of tobacco, his jaws grinding as steadily as a mill, and the purple" juice all the while overflowing his lips, yet such creatures were healthy and strong as oxen "—and we presume that after using this kind of fodder for many years in succession they were about as intelligent as oxen. Huge masses of indolent, adipose matter may not be so readily or severely affected by a poisonous irritant, and its sedative influence may be more congenial to such phlegmatic temperaments; but if any envy the poor African such swinish pleasure — if they have no higher aspirations than this, then let them J 154 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS go, bask in the sunshine, and take plug and plug, whiff and whiff with him; but every prudent man will surely decline the loathsome banquet. Hitherto all the efforts of philosophers and mo- ralists to check the use of tobacco appear to have been wholly disregarded, and the hundred vol- umes which have been published against it have fallen like so many autumnal leaves to perish and be forgotten—facts and arguments have been looked upon as chaff to be blown away by the wind, and a morbid desire for tobacco-inebria- tion seems to have overcome all opposition until the few who do not use the pernicous weed are only so many solitary exceptions to an almost universal custom ; and yet in no instance has a single charge brought against tobacco been re- futed, but on the contrary the experience of every year and almost every day tends not only to con- firm them all, but also to bring to light new, and more astounding developments. The history of tobacco shows its blighting in- fluence upon nations as well as individuals. AND WHAT IT DOES. 155 Everywhere as the use of this article has in- creased, the average duration of human life has diminished and natural population has declined. Under its depressing influence the scale of intel- lect has fallen, and all the proud traits of honor, benevolence, and self-sacrifising heroism have been lost. The causes which contribute to the decline of nations may not be so obvious or so distinctly seen as those that affect individuals, be- cause several deleterious elements may be in operation at the same time, and because the change being upon a large scale may appear so slow as not to be readily computed. We do not witness the downfall of a nation from moral causes in a day, nor perhaps in the lifetime of a single individual, but when the decline is mea- sured by decades or centuries the change is more distinctly seen and understood., Spaho was the first of all the civilized world to adopt the use of tobacco, and when her present condition is com- pared with what it was before that event i* will be seen that she has greatly declined. What has 156 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS Spain done during the last half century but smoke tobacco? Who can show us her illustrious sages and heroes of the present day ? Where in all her dominions can be found such men as built the pillars of Hercules ? Where now is her world renowned Alhambra ? Where are her libraries of six hundred thousand volumes? Spain once had the proudest palaces and the strongest cas- tles, the bravest warriors and the boldest naviga- tors ; and when every other nation refused to aid Columbus in his search for this western continent she nobly espoused his cause, and furnished him with the means for pursuing his daring enterprise. Spain was once the home of chivalry, and the emporium of the arts and sciences; she gave the world the first metallic currency that had credit among all nations. Spanish faith was incorrupta- ble, the Spaniard was ever true to his trust, and never forfeited his word. But now how changed 1 Her proudest towers and castles have fallen, and her cities and palaces are hasting to decay; the mildew of tobacco is upon her—her "boasted AND WHAT IT DOES. 157 heraldry and pomp of power," with her once im- maculate integrity have passed away—her people have lost their physical and intellectual vigor, and are fast sinking into a state of ignorance, effemi- nacy and barbarism. In Spain tobacco is a government monoply and is one of its chief sources of revenue. The Spainard seldom chews tobacco but is always smoking or snuffing. Seville has the unenviable honor of having the largest tobacco manufactory in the whole world. According to Harper this stupendous edifice is six hundred and sixty two feet in length and five hundred and twenty four feet wide, covering an area of nearly eight acres; the whole surrounded by an immense moat. Within, the structure is divided into numerous apartments, in which from five to eight thousand persons, chiefly females, are constantly employed manufacturing cigars and snuff. When an Ameri- can gets a peep at the group of wretches that fill this plague spot of the world he is startled at the multitude of ghastly, cadavorous images by which 158 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS he finds himself surrounded — it seems a charnel house, and its dingy inmates appear to know lit- tle more of the living world than the tenants of Egyptian catacombs. These females are called, in Seville, cigarreras. The girl of sixteen has the form of a skeleton and the face of a spectre ; to such forlorn beings virtue and chastity are un- meaning words. In this model erebus thousands spend their whole lives from youth to age ; happily for those who are doomed to this abomination their lives are generally short. This is Spain as she is now, and such is the vortex to which the cursed Hebanon leads nations as well as individ- uals. In a work recently published by Monsieur Fievee, he says: "We are much deceived if the statistics of actual mental vigor would not prove the low level of the intellect throghout Europe since the introduction of tobocco. The Spaniards have first experienced the penalty of its abuse, the example of which they have so industriously propagated, and the elements of which originated AND WHAT IT DOES. 159 in their conquests and their ancient energy. The rich Havana enjoys the monopoly of the poison which procures so much gold in return for so many victims ; but the Spaniards have paid for it also by the loss of their political importance, of their rich appendage of art and literature, of their chivalry, which made them one of the first peo- ple of the world. Admitting that other causes operated, tobacco has been one of the most influ- ential. Spain is now one vast tobacco shop, and its only consolation is, that other nations are fast approaching its level." The consumption of tobacco in Great Britain has long been increasing and at the present ti'ne it i3 said to amount to thirty millions of pounds annually, which is more than a pound to every man, woman and child in the kingdom of Great Britain. The government employs ships for the special purpose of bringing tobacco to London, and a dock of one acre in extent is set apart for the special use of these ships. The "Queens Great Tobacco Warehouse " covers an area of 160 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS five acres and is rented by the government for fourteen thousand pounds a year. It appears from statistical returns made to the agricultural bureau of the United States that for some years past the annual production of tobacco has been about 200,000,000 pounds, or about 100,000 tons; how much of this is exported and how much is consumed in our own country, we are unable to say, but it is evident that the home consumption of this vile weed is constantly in- creasing. Many American farmers devote some of their richest fields to the cultivation of this ar- ticle because they say, that the cost of cultiva- tion, and the average yield, can be calculated with more certainty than almost any other crop ; and tobacco always commands ready cash. AND WHAT IT DOES. 161 CHAPTER XIX. Concluding remarks. It is a little more than three hundred years since the Red-man of America gave the European tobacco, from that small beginning it has spread over nearly all the world, until now it is said that no less than six millions of acres of the richest soil upon the face of the earth are annually de- voted to the cultivation of this plant, and it is calculated that about four fifths of the entire pop- ulation of the globe use it in some form or other. From this circumstance some have been led to conclude that an article so extensively employed cannot be generally injurious; but it is a point well settled by medical men everywhere, that the duration of human life and the common 162 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS standard of health have greatly diminished with- in the past two hundred years. Before the hu- man race had become contaminated by the use of rum, and tobacco, the great mass of mankind possessed sound constitutions; health was the rule and illness the exception; but now, it is sel- dom that an adult is found anywhere wholly free from disease. Other causes have doubtless con- tributed to produce this state of things, but we are bound to regard the free use of tobacco and spirituous liquors as the chief agents in this uni- versal deterioration. Some may say that the strong desire which those who use tobacco have for it is proof that it is adapted to supply a want in the economy of human life ; but this argument is of little account when it is recollected that the love of tobacco is wholly artificial, and that there is always a strong aversion to it before its use has created a morbid desire for it. But if such an argument should be allowed, it would prove all that the most sensual could desire. If the use of tobacco is indicated AND WHAT IT DOES. 163 by the desire for it that its use creates, then, by the same rule the use of opium, alcohol, and most other narcotics is indicated in the same way. The more any individual uses of any these nox- ious agents — the more he is injured by it, the stronger his appetite for it becomes ; hence it is seen that all such arguments are altogether futile and absurd. Some will tell us that the evils re- sulting from tobacco are chargable to its excess, and not to its ordinary use ; but a brief considera- tion will show the fallacy of this argument. It is certain that tobacco never supplies any of the natural wants of the body; it never enters into the composition of bone, muscle, or any fibrous or glandular tissue. When taken in any quantity it tends to derange and exhaust the system, al- though the injury may be so slight at first as to be unnoticed. In like manner a few pennies may be daily filched from the coffers of a wealthy in- dividual without his perceiving the loss, yet he will by that means every day be made poorer. Tobacco is quite as hostile to human life as ar- 164 TOBACCO, WHAT IT IS senic, and in a large dose it may be as suddenly fatal. What would be thought of a parent who should give his boy arsenic, or deadly night-shade, to use temperately ? The tyro may go on to ab- stract only a few sands daily from the hour-glass of life, or he may dash the whole in an instant. The following account is from the Providence Evening Press Jan. 8th, 1861, and shows the inti- mate relation between tobacco and intoxicating drinks, and its power as a deadly poison. " Killed by Liquor Mixed with Tobacco.— At Central Bridge, Schoharie county, for the fun of the thing, the associates of Noiman Cole, con- cluded to wind up the day's drinking by mixing tobacco in his liquor. He drank freely of it, and died in the bar-room almost instantly." The tendency of tobacco to attach itself to its vic- tim is sufficient to overthrow all arguments in its favor. In a short time the habit becomes so fixed that it is almost impossible to break away from it. The first cigar is big with danger. The lad who begins with one or two cigars a day soon requires AND WHAT IT DOES. 165 a dozen — the beginning is connected with the end, the temperate with the intemperate use of tobacco. B*t if it were true as some would have us to believe, that tobacco was intended as a special benefit to man, we should be led to won- der why Providence has been thus partial to our sex, when the more numerous trials and infirmi- ties of the other, would seem to make such arti- ficial aid far more necessary. Until this question is answered the consciencious husband should smoke no more than his wife, and the brother no more than the sister ; this rule would soon banish the filthy abomination from all respectable so- ciety. That the free use of tobacco either by smoking, snuffing or chewing tends to produce premature decrepitude is proved by the concurrent testimony of medical writers from Cullen down to the pre- sent time, and is reaffirmed by almost every day's experience and observation. The Caucasian race almost everywhere manifests symptoms of de- cline. The causes of this are to be looked for 166 tobacco, what it is in the social and domestic habits of the people, and although other causes have undoubtedly con- tributed to this deterioration, yet, we can discover no single agent so universal in its application, and so depressing in its nature as tobacco. Ask any of our old men what they think of the young men of the present time, and they will tell you that they are inferior in size to their fathers and grandfathers; they see none of those tall majes- tic forms, brawny limbs and ruddy countenances, that were common fifty years ago. Most of the young men of the present time, and especially those who have been born and brought up in compact cities where the whole breathing at.DO- sphere is satuiated with the malaria of tobacco are inferior in size to their ancestors, the bold figure, graceful symetry, and hale countenance of the Anglo-Saxon have given place to the slen- der form and sharp features; the flush of health is gone from the cheek because tobacco has sup- planted the rose; the suction of smoking has drawn in the cheeks and given the face a col- AND WHAT IT DOES. 167 lapsed appearance. Personal defects, congenital deformities, and hereditary affections, appear to be constantly increasing. Although these symp- toms of decline may not be so obvious in rural districts, yet, as the taint is supposed to descend through succeeding generations, no particular lo- cation can long claim exemption from it; and at length the sex which is least guilty may come to suffer equally with the other. If so great a de- cline has taken place in the course of two or three generations, who can predict the result? Should the production and consumption of this article continue to increase for the next hundred years in the same ratio that they have for the last fifty it is impossible to imagine the conse- quences ; this however is not probable, but as epidemics often disappear for want of subjects to feed upon so tobacco may finally eat itself out. In attempting moral or social reforms the pow- er of example has been too often overlooked. It is a truth although it may do no good to say it, that the higher classes are to some extent re- 168 TOBACCO WHAT IT IS, sponsible for many of the errors and faults which are common among the middle and lower classes. The late example of the English Queen in sitting for her portrait in plain costume, without her jewels, deserves the highest commendation. This eminent lesson of prudence, and economy, will doubtless have its effect in discouraging extrava- gance in dress, and the use of superfluous orna- ments. In the United States examples set by the wealthy, and influential, are sure to be fol- lowed by most others so far as their conditions, and circumstances will allow. When all who move in the higher circles are seen with cigars in their mouths, every hotel servant, and every baker's boy, is quick to follow the example. It seems, as if by magic, to elevate the humblest citizen to the same category of the most opulent nabob. If the obscure cottager cannot wear as fine cloth, and support as much style as the more wealthy, he can at least use as big cigars, and puff as ample clouds of smoke ; and it will be almost impossible to make him believe that there AND WHAT IT DOES. 169 is any great harm in following such illustrious examples ; and so long as smoking is looked upon as a refined luxury and is common among the higher classes — so long as the reeking cigar ia supported by fingers bedecked with gold and sparkling with diamonds — so long as beauty and fashion admire, or pretend to admire it, it will be of little use to lecture the masses upon the per- nicious effects of tobacco. But once let it be- come unfashionable and discarded from the higher circles, and the filthy habit would every- where decline ; its murky clouds would soon dis- appear from public streets and public saloons, tobacco would become a term of reproach, asso- ciated with the low and the vulgar, every thought- ful boy would despise it, and the polluting nui- sance would be compelled to take refuge in the secluded recesses of filth and shame ; fields which now produce nothing but this noisome weed would once more smile with golden grain, a sad reverse would conic over the tobacco trade, and hundreds now engaged in this nefarious business K 170 TOBACCO WHAT IT IS, would be compelled to seek some more respecta- ble and more useful employment. These things deserve to be well considered by all whose exam- ple and influence contribute to form the charac- ter of individuals and communities. Forty or fifty years ago the use of alcoholic drink was almost as common and quite as popu- lar as the use of tobacco is at the present time. Spirituous liquors of some kind were thought al- most indispensable in every family; they were supposed to be necessary in almost every case of illness or emergency, they were furnished to la- borers almost as statedly as provisions, and were universally proffered to visitors as a token of friendship. The^ Doctor drank as he went his daily rounds in attendance on the sick, the cler- gyman partook of the same hospitality when he made his parish visits, and the good matron felt extremely mortified whenever she found herself unable to offer her guest some favorite beverage. The attorney drank, and his client drank, the sheriff drank, and the judge drank; it was held to AND WHAT IT DOES. 171 be indispensiblc both at weddings and funerals; it was administered to the infant in the cradle and the dying centenarian; no public occasion could be celebrated without it, and it was thought to be no disparagement even for a high official to get beastly drunk on some extraordinary occasion. But a change has come over public opinion, and the use of intoxicating liquor is no longer considered respectable; it has disappeared from the side- board, and is no longer seen in the parlor or drawingroom of those who make any pretentions to respectability. Its manifold evils have been pointed out, public opinion has pronounced its mandate, and the finger of scorn is steadily pointed against it. Here is a change that no one anticipated half a century ago, and we have great reason to hope that in a much shorter period this same unappeas- able finger of scorn, will, in this country at least, d;rect its withering force against tobacco I