THE EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON HEALTH.
By E. L. Hart
"THINK of ancient Greece, of her glory in arts, arms, and song, of her poets, sculptors, architects, after whom the modern toil in vain. We do but follow in their track with halting steps and slow, and yet they lived their lives, and thought their deathless thoughts, and gave immortal beauty to the silent stone without tobacco."—Quarterly Journal of Science. "In 1492, when Columbus arrived at the island of St. Salvador, some of his sailors who went ashore returned saying that they had seen some natives roll up a kind of dry leaf, set fire to one end, and inhale the smoke." "This same habit of smoking tobacco was then a gift of savages to civilized men, and, strange to say, whilst the good works of civilization advance so slowly, this fetid herb, borrowed from the naked aborigines of the New World, has overrun the whole of the Old World in the space of three centuries."—Dr. Drysdale. "If you get a medical opinion in favor of a pipe, it is the opinion of a man who indulges in it. An unbiased and unprejudiced opinion in favor of tobacco is yet to come."—Prof. Max Muller. "Surely, if the dictates of reason were allowed to prevail, an article so injurious to the health, and so offensive in all its forms of employment, would speedily be banished from common use."—Dr. Prout. Our forefathers looked upon smoking as a luxury seldom to be indulged in till the work of the day was done. Most men nowadays who have adopted the habit, regard it as a necessity, and their pipes as inseparable companions. Nicotine, the active principle in tobacco, is a poison, and cannot be inhaled with impunity. A most moderate indulgence in the weed is harmful, whilst its excessive use is often fraught with disastrous consequences. In dealing with the question of "Smokers and Smoking," it should be remembered that isolated cases do not form correct data for argument. There are men of refined stamp who smoke, and men of the lowest caliber who do not. Men who are apparently in good health and will never own to a headache enjoy their pipe and cigar, and men are often in doctors' hands who never touch either. One man will say tobacco has been the bane of his life, whilst another will strongly assert it has been his greatest boon. There are many inveterate smokers who, to superficial observers, suffer in no particular in consequence of the habit. It is, nevertheless, true that smoking is physically, mentally, and morally injurious to the constitution, and that the use of tobacco is incompatible with a high standard of health and vigor. Smoking is one form of self-indulgence and selfishness. It dulls a man's sense of the rights of others, and destroys the natural susceptibility of his mind, causing him to be morose and indifferent to the rights of others. It may here be remarked that the ill effects of smoking upon a man's nature are negative rather than positive, soothing into forgetfulness his sense of duty and moral rectitude, and rendering him unmindful of those existing ends which it should be every man's aim to remove. "Tobacco weakens nervous power, favors a dreamy, imaginative, and imbecile state of existence. The smoker ultimately not only becomes partially but generally paralyzed in mind and body; he is subject to tremors and numerous nervous ailments, and has recourse to stimulants for their relief." The evil results of overindulgence in strong drink are more positive, arousing the baser passions, and causing a man to break the rules of decency and order. These traits vary according to the disposition and temperament of the individual, and are in proportion to the extent of his indulgence. Of course there are smokers who are not drinkers, and vice versa; with the majority, however, the habits go hand in hand, for smoking creates a desire for stimulants, and when the habit of drinking is first acquired, the false solace of tobacco is found desirable.—Journal of Hygiene.