Tobacco Injurious to the Mind.
By Isaac D. Van Horn
JOEL SHEW says, "Any narcotic, the use of which is capable of causing hypochondriasis, hysteria, epilepsy, mental imbecility, and insanity, must of necessity, if employed habitually, become detrimental to the intellect and the morals in proportion to the extent of the abuse. Besides it is a recognized principle in nature, that whatever enfeebles the body, must, in the end, and in the same degree, enfeebles the mind. 'A sound mind in a sound body' is the physiological law. This every tobacco user violates." Dr. Rush "states of the father of Dr. Massillac that he lost his memory through the excessive use of snuff at only forty years of age." Sir John Pringle's memory was also sadly impaired in the same way, as was proved by his recovery on abstaining from it at the suggestion of Dr. Franklin. Prof. Hitchcock says, "Intoxicating drinks, opium, and tobacco, exert a pernicious influence on the intellect. They tend directly to debilitate the organs; and we cannot take a more effectual course to cloud the understanding, weaken the memory, unfix the attention, and confuse all the mental operations, than by thus entailing on ourselves the whole hateful train of maladies. These can bow down to the earth an intellect of giant strength, and make it grind in bondage like Samson shorn of his locks and deprived of his vision. The use of tobacco may seem to soothe the feelings, and quicken the operations of the mind; but to what purpose is it that the machine is furiously running and buzzing after the balance-wheel is taken off?" The above extracts show how little regard is paid by many to the healthy action of the faculties of both mind and body by the habitual use of tobacco and other narcotics. With many the appetite made morbid by bad habits must be satisfied at the expense of both the present and the future life.