with your own consent to prefix your name to our publication. I call it ours—for no other reason than my obvious connection with it and cordial approbation of it; and certainly not to deprive the Reverend Mr. Lane of his due honors as the author and the producer of a work so learned, eloquent and worthy, and at the same time so seasonable and so needed in our menaced community. I trust also, Honored Sir, that it will meet your own high approbation, and that before you leave us in your venerable age, you will recommend to your countrymen a full and honest consideration of its contents; nay, a prompt and principled compliance with its luminous and friendly inculcations.
and admiring posterity respect all you said, and wrote, and did, for the benefit of our common country, and, indeed, for the good of universal man with a filial and high esteem—of which we may not now attempt to graduate the attitude or the influence.
There is much pseudo-affection for man abroad in our age, that ought rather to be branded as lycanthropy than philanthropy; since its short-sightedness is so idiotic and unworthy the functions of a rational mind. What is genuine seeks the true interests of man, even at the hazard of displeasing him for a moment.
solace in any event that we have done right, and endeavored to benefit our fellow-creatures. When the non-descript prodigy of the WOODEN HORSE stood before the open gates of the wondering Trojans, it looked as innocent and friendly, and desirable, on the whole, to them, as TOBACCO ever does to our Americans. They were deceived by appearances, and the advice of the silly and fashionable Thymœtes was followed, against the unpalatable warnings of Capys and Laocoon. The words of the latter remind us of the faithful appeals of our author, though he, I trust, will not so vainly tell the truth to his countrymen. Let us recall them—
- Et procul; 0 miseri, quæ tanta insania, cives?
Creditis avectos hostes? aut ulla putatis
Dona carere dolis Danaûm? sic notus Ulysses?
Aut hoc inclusi ligno occultantur Achivi;
Aut hæc in nostros fabricata est machina muros,
Inspectura domos, venturaque desuper urbi;
Aut aliquis latet error; equo ne credite, Teucri.
Quicquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
Which we thus accommodate—
- What madness this, with thundering voice he cries,
0 citizens, your welfare to despise?
- Trust ye the monster is indeed a friend?
Or think these dainties may no poison blend?
Judge ye this gift is all it would appear?
And know ye not the death that slumbers here?
Or foes insidious in this fabric lurk,
Or wanton on their way our doom to work.
A pest contrived to desolate our homes,
And change our cities into pompous tombs.
Or some untold and horrid mischief lies
Deceptive there our dotage to surprise.
Trust not the fallacy! I dread a foe
Much more with smiles of goodness on his brow.
Be safe—be clear—be clean; you'll die full soon
Without the fate disguised in such a boon.
prove much, in the estimate of a Christian or a philosopher, in favor of tobacco. Is it proved—fairly proved, by such a monstrosity?
_____
patient and attentive near him; and through all the well-cooked courses and dainties he was sparing and abstemious, waiting,—for a cigar. All that series of various excellence, preceding his favorite luxury, he valued only as a tolerably tedious turn-pike road to the pleasures of fumation. Presently, some fine yellow Spaniards were served—when the Doctor recovering his spirits, reached prompt and far to secure one, not unobserved by Mr. Morris. The consciously awkward action occasioned a mutual glance, when the following dialogue ensued, to the no small interest of the arrested circle.
The reproof was felt by more than the Doctor. The cigars were not patronized.
- For antidote against all care,
Give me, ye gods, a good cigar.
It is very plain that wherever smokers, or chewers, or snuffers are, and abound, it were well for all proximate persons to "have old clothes on;" since such exposure to a vicious and offensive ptyalism, must defile their garments, even if it did not nau-
scate their refinement. Hence in every rail-car, or steamer, "abaft the wheel," GENTLEMEN are "NOT ALLOWED" to smoke; though it has been well observed, that such an inhibition were in terms superfluous—since GENTLEMEN are not the ones that need to be reminded or forbidden. We recommend that their public announcements should rather read—
GENTLEMEN NEVER SMOKE, ESPECIALLY IN THE COMPANY OF LADIES
OR STRANGERS; AND ALL OTHERS ARE WARNED AGAINST THE NUISANCE
AND ITS PENALTIES.
monstrous succession'—retrocession—on the other sex, excepted!
among parents, companions, and neighborhoods, that luxuriate in the practice, at births, marriages, funerals, and all other occasions.
wet—or so dry—or else so indescribably threatening, or peculiar, or of no particular character, and therefore they must take—alcohol, or—tobacco!
| |SMOKING| | ||
| Modern | {CHEWING| | vulgar modes of self-defile- |
| |SNUFFING| |
ment are we most disagreeable to real gentlemen, true ladies, and genuine philosophers? I answer it may be difficult and useless to determine. Enough that it is all wrong—that every man is better without it—that its practice is hurtful and injurious, without any real benefit or mark of wisdom in it.
How much in a year, often increasingly, is the amount of money paid by some persons for this luxury! It is almost incredible—as often its sum is purposely unknown. If all Christians paid as much for evangelical missions, it would soon revolution the world.
Your voice is injured, if you snuff. If you chew, only think of the incongruity! If you smoke, your error is not to be concealed. If you are addicted to it in any way, you are degraded, and your odor follows you everywhere. Its offences are many, and they adhere to your persons. Pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur—dice aperte, nos, nos, consules desumus.*
_____
legitimate and proper use, according to the excellent will of God.
equaling the self-productiveness of sin. One aberration from propriety, or one false principle or error, may in its train corrupt a world, explode a universe, and astound eternity. All the methods of luxuriating in tobacco tend to social wantonness, with aspects and associations not of good report. Many a clergyman has disgusted a congregation, lost a good settlement and injured the best of causes, by his ignominious indulgences of this sort. Many truly elevated and refined persons object to hearing in the pulpit a notorious man of tobacco—their feelings are so revolted at the thought and sometimes at the sight, of the nuisance.
asked, in London, a distinguished friend of the Temperance Reformation, What good does it? the reply was, The good it does, my Lord, is chronicled, ascertained, reported, and accredited by all who are acquainted with the facts. Will your Lordship be good enough to tell me what evil it does? whom it injures, or makes worse, or reasonably at all offends? What harm is it?
What is the fact to the eye of calm and considerate observation? Look at the ways of revelry and voluptuous infatuation in our thronged cities. Look at our theatre-goers, our ball-frequenters, our gambling-house loafers; and mark all the tributary rills of influence that come to a fearful confluence in the great ocean of profligacy and perdition—and say, if the dirty vice of tobacco-mongering, in all its forms, degrees, and stages, of dishonor, is not congenial, powerful, and even essential in the formidable result as well as the stealthy process. The genius of tobacco is properly bacchanalian, sensual and deleterious to all the dignity of man, in low life of savages and boors not only.
| In courts and palaces he also reigns,
And in luxurious cities, where the noise Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers, And injury and outrage; and when night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine. * * * * * * * * Tobacco's curling fumes, or covert quid, Or pungent dust, assists them in their course, |
| Congenial with ebriety and noise,
The prompter of profaneness, folly, crime.* |
_____
ficiently vulnerable and sufficiently mortal; they are transient and fleeting and vanishing like vapor in their life; and why not abstain from all the causes which debilitate the body; enervate the faculties; and accelerate the catastrophe of death? This abstinence is the dictate equally of philosophy and duty.
tably often do they CHEW, SNUFF, and SPIT*, to the grand annoyance of all the cleanly, and all the devout, who have to witness the shameful profanation! These abominations, we are credibly assured, are observed—not frequently, yet sometimes—even at the communion table!! Here indeed it becomes horrible, and worthy of the disciplinary animadversion of ecclesiastical authority! I must abhor it and pronounce it plainly impious. An indulgence so filthy, so indolent, so reckless and irreverent, in the very house and the holy presence of God! may it NEVER be repeated, if it ever was perpetrated! Let a man think—have a little forecast—look ahead—and remember how sinful it is towards Him, who says,
YE SHALL KEEP MY SABBATHS AND REVERENCE MY SANCTUARY; I AM JEHOVAH.
_____
have formally vetoed the practice in their domain, and even made a public monument of their decree in the vestibule of the sanctuary, in these or similar words:
And many a worthy officer of a congregation, whose usefulness is more felt than seen, we mean the unappreciated sexton, has reason to sound a trump of accusation against a set of GENTLEMEN, well known to him, whose filthy salivations so mark and desecrate the sacred places of the sanctuary, as to offend him especially, whose labors are execrably enhanced as the result! And should he publish the names of these gentlemen—sat sapienti, non stulto! sed—compressis venis, pituitae impetum cohibe.THE TRUSTEES POSITIVELY FORBID THE USE OF TOBACCO, WITH
ITS FILTHY RESULTS, IN THIS SANCTUARY OF GOD, AND ESPECIALLY
DURING DIVINE SERVICE, UNDER PENALTY OF THE LAW.
sured terms against street-smoking in New York. We learn that the Native American candidates for the next councils are to be pledged to abate, among many others, this crying nuisance." * * *
dred hhds. of tobacco, valued at $100,000. This is the first entire cargo of tobacco ever shipped from tlie United States to Russia."
Quæ de causa, pro mea consuetudine, beviter et simpliciter dixi, judices, ea confido probata esse omnibus; quæ non fori, neque judiciali [seu clerica] consuetudine, et de hominis ingenio [perverso] et communiter de ipsius studio [trupissimo] locutus sum, ea, judices, a vobis spero esse in bonam partem accepta; ab eo, qui judicium exercet, certe scio.
and inserted in this Introduction—and I wish I could show to all men the original! The chirography of the writer now, I think in his 79th year, is a commentary and a eulogium on those habits of temperance in all things, of which he is such a rare and impressive example. The envelope, for the sake of the autograph, has been begged away from me by a friend, to whom I reluctantly resigned it—mainly on account of the seal, with its beautiful device and motto, of which I must tell the reader and so preserve the memory. An acorn, decorated with two oak leaves; neither guardant, nor rampant, nor couchant; but simply extant and verdant; surmounted with the circular motto, ALTERI SECULO. This I view as very happy; as showing a republican independence of all the beggarly barbarism of heraldic symbols and inscriptions, so often badly usurped, and imitated, and perpetuated in our own free country, whose affinities and honors are neither feudal nor monarchical, but properly of another and a higher character. It also shows modesty, forecast, the estimate of posterity anticipated, and an original wisdom of sentiment worthy alike of the philosopher,
the republican, and the man—meaning, FOR A FUTURE AGE, or ANOTHER AGE; the acorn fairly prospective of the noble oak it makes in other days; though humble now, and unobtrusive, and unseen, yet to become the tall monarch of the wood, beneath whose giant branches and frequent foliage, protection and refreshment may be yielded grateful to many a weary traveller in other days and years. How worthy were such sentiment of our statesmen, our patriots, and our countrymen! especially if, with revelation's light, far-sighted, and by faith, their estimates were amplified and crowned with the hope of heaven, and their ALTERI SECULO justly construed to mean, HEREAFTER, IN ETERNITY, IS MY REWARD.
Quincy, Massachusetts, 19 Aug. 1845.
DEAR SIR,—
to me of your introduction to the proposed publication of the Reverend B. I. Lane's work on TOBACCO AND ITS MYSTERIES. In my early youth I was addicted to the use of tobacco in two of its mysteries, smoking and chewing. I was warned by a medical friend of the pernicious operation of this habit upon the stomach and the nerves; and the advice of the physician was fortified by the results of my own experience. More than thirty years have passed away since I deliberately renounced the use of tobacco in all its forms; and although the resolution was not carried into execution without a struggle of vitiated nature, I never yielded to its impulses; and in the space of three or four months of self-denial, they lost their stimulating power, and I have never since felt it as a privation.
wheat-field, and add five years of longevity to the average of human life.
- Your friend and Christian brother,
- JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
Reverend Samuel H. Cox, D.D. Brooklyn, N, Y.
as an oracle, plurimum in parvo, against this insidious and hypocritical ravager, this dirty depredator on the interests and the hopes of improved society in our noble Republic. And as to health, you have touched the very point! the stomach and the nerves are its proximate victims. The stomach, that wondrous laboratory of all the pabulum of life, that central, and primary, and all-controlling organ of our wonderfully compounded being in this world, first "gives signs of woe" and then the nerves, the glands with their secretions, the muscles and functions of the entire system, respond to the shock, and reel under its deleterious power; according to that grand apothegm of the medical schools, so worthy and so true, ventriculo languido omnia languent; when the stomach is disordered, the total system droops m sympathetic weakness. Yes! the mind included—and I believe that, when tobacco makes the morbid languor the moral powers are debilitated, their sense blunted, the very conscience injured and corrosive, as the consequence.
ences of the grace of God; and, through the accomplished and eternal mediation of ONE, the Son of God and the Son of man, whom all saints apprehend and trust as their ineffably glorious Redeemer and inheritance, that you may be well prepared for that great change sublime, which death will soon realize to the best, and prove at last and for ever the vision, the fruition, and the perfection, of the divine glory, with all the saved, in the presence of God Almighty and the Lamb!
- Your friend and servant for Jesus' sake,
- SAMUEL H. COX.
[Preface]
clouds would be showered on our path. Then how grateful and how pleasing,
Such service would harmonize with the spirit of the times. But smiles and blessings we cannot purchase at such a price. We must not bear false witness to save or condemn either friend or foe. We have too deeply felt the lash of the tyrant to become his eulogist; and we purpose to show you some of the wounds and scars which he is ever inflicting with his whip of scorpions."To sing the praises of that glorious weed—
Dear to mankind, whatever his race, his creed,
Condition, color, dwelling, or degree!
From Zembla's snows to parched Arabia's sands,
Loved by all lips, and common to all hands!
Hail, sole cosmopolite, tobacco, hail!
Shag, long-cut, short-cut, pig-tail, quid or roll,
Dark negro-head, or Orinooka pale,
In every form congenial to the soul."
reformation, and little success has attended them. The sober light of reason and the scorching fire of invective, have been spent upon this evil practice in vain. In vain has chemistry developed the poisonous quality of the article; in vain has experience taught us that misery, disease, and death follow in its train. The deceptive pleasure of its use, like the charm of a serpent has held us captive, and none have been fully aware of its nature, until its poisonous fangs have been felt.
heal or alleviate the distress. Arsenic appears with a lowering brow, and the compressed lip of madness, and the naked dirk;—it does its work quick, and is known to be an enemy. Not so with tobacco: it has a smiling face, its tread is light, some of its movements pleasing, and though it inflicts more pain and misery than arsenic, it does its work slowly and disguisedly; and hence the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe, are too often charged with the evils which itself inflicts.
It will be bad enough to say the truth of it. Othello like, it stabs its lovers, and stabs them while reposing in security."Speak of it as it is: nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice."
THE NATURE OF TOBACCO.
"The broad-leaved tobacco furnishes from its juices the following constituents.1. A large quantity of animal mat-
- ter, of an albuminous nature.
- 2. Malate of lime with an excess of acid.
- 3. Acetic acid.
- 4. Nitrate and muriate of potash in observable quantities.
- 5. A red matter soluble in alcohol and water, which swells and boils in the fire, its nature undetermined.
- 6. Muriate of ammonia.
- 7. A peculiar acrid, volatile, colorless substance, soluble in water and alcohol, and which appears different from any thing known in the vegetable kingdom. It is this principle which gives to prepared tobacco its peculiar character, and it is perhaps not to be found in any other species of plant. Its medicinal activity is supposed to reside in this volatile portion, which is the "essential oil."
|
Instruction sur la Combustion des Végétaux, la Fabrication du Salin, de la Cendre Gravelée, et sur la Manière de Saturer les Eaux Salpêtrées (Tours: Impr. d'Auguste Vauquer et Lhéritier, 1794)
Instrucçào sobre a Combustaõ dos Vegetaes: para a Factura do Alkali vegetal, das Cinzas Gravelladas (Lisboa: S. T. Ferreira, 1798) Expériences sur les sèves des végétaux (Paris: Quillau, 1799) Manuel de l'essayeur (Paris: Chez le citoyen Bernard, 1799) Handbuch der Probirkunst (Königsberg: F. Nicolovius, 1800 ) Analyse de la Matière Cerebrale de l'Homme et de Quelques Animaux (Paris: 1811) Manuel de l'essayeur (Paris: J. Klostermann, 1812) Sur le Parc aux Huitres du Havre: Rapport Fait a la Faculté de Médecine de Paris (Paris, 1820) Dictionary of Chemistry, Containing the Principles and Modern Theories of the Science, with its Application to the Arts, Manufactures, and Medicine Tr. from Le dictionnaire de Chimie Including the Most Recent Discoveries and Doctrines of the Science, with Additions and Notes (New York: G. & C. & H. Carvill, 1830) Mémoire sur la Nature des Terres qui sans Culture et sans Engrais sont plus ou Moins Favorables à la Nourriture et à la Croissance des Végétaux ... lu à la Société Royale et Centrale d'agriculture le 3 Février 1830 (Paris: impr. Mme Huzard, 1830) Manuel Complet de l'Essayeur (Paris: Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, 1836) To see Dr. Depierris's 1876 summary of Vauquelin's tobacco analysis, in French, click here. |
0.72; silica 0.09; woody matter 4.97; and water 86.84= 100.00. During the fermentation of the leaves there is always a formation of ammoniacal salts."
|
Économie Rurale Considérée dans ses Rapports avec la Chimie, la Physique et la Météorologie (Paris: Béchet 1843)
Rural Economy in its Relation with Chemistry, Physics and Meteorology, or Chemistry Applied to Agriculture (New York: O. Judd; New York: D. Appleton & Co; and Philadelphia: G. S. Appleton, 1845) Rural Economy, in its Relations with Chemistry, Physics, and Meteorology, or, An Application of the Principles of Chemistry and Hysiology to the Details of Practical Farming (London: H. Bailliere, 1845) Rural Economy in its Relation with Chemistry, Physics and Meteorology, or Chemistry Applied to Agriculture (New York: D. Appleton, 1848) Viajes Científicos a los Andes Ecuatoriales; ó Coleccion de Memorias sobre Física, Química é Historia Natural de la Nueva Granada, Ecuador y Venezuela (Paris, Lasserre, 1849) Rural Economy in its Relation with Chemistry, Physics and Meteorology, or Chemistry Applied to Agriculture (New York: D. Appleton, 1850) Mémoire sur la composition de l'Air Confiné dans la Terre Végétale (Paris: Bachelier, 1853) Mémoires de Chimie Agricole et de Physiologie (Paris: Mallet-Bachelier, gendre et successeur de Bachelier, 1854) Rural Economy in its Relations with Chemistry, Physics and Meteorology, or Chemistry Applied to Agriculture (New York, C.M. Saxton, 1856) Rural Economy in its Relations with Chemistry, Physics and Meteorology, or Chemistry Applied to Agriculture (New York, C.M. Saxton, 1857) La Fosse a Fumier: Leçon Professée au Conservatoire Impérial des Arts et Métiers (Paris: Béchet jeune, 1858) |
1. "I made," says he, "a small incision in a pigeon's leg, and applied to it the oil of tobacco. In two minutes it lost the use of its foot. 2. I repeated this experiment on another pigeon, and the event was exactly the same. 3. I made a small wound in the pectoral muscles of a pigeon and applied the oil to it; in three minutes the animal could no longer support itself on the left foot. 4. This experiment repeated on another pigeon, resulted in the same way. 5. I introduced into the pectoral muscles of a pigeon a small bit of wool covered with this oil; the pigeon in a few seconds fell insensible. 6. Two other pigeons to whose muscles I applied this oil, vomited several times. 7. Two others with empty stomachs, treated in the same mode, made every effort to vomit."
destroy life, at once finds tobacco too powerful for his use; and in those cases where it is most clearly required only makes it a last resort." As an emetic, it is said to exceed all others in its promptness, violence, and permanence of impression. In some instances it has been used with success in expelling other poisons from the stomach on account of the promptness and violence with which it acts. It can be applied as well externally in the form of a poultice to the stomach as internally, and with the same effect.
of the most active class. The great prostration, excessive giddiness, fainting and violent affections of the alimentary canal, which often attend its internal use, make it proper that so potent a drug should be resorted to by medical men, only in restricted doses, and on occasions of magnitude."
| Pharmacologia; or the History of Medicinal Substances, with a View to Establish the Art of Prescribing and of Composing Extemporaneous Formulae upon Fixed and Scientific Principles; Illustrated by Formulae, in Which the Intention of Each Element is Designated by Key Letters (New York: F. & R. Lockwood, 1822) |
every quid and cigar does not produce complete prostration or death is, that nature puts forth her best efforts to resist its influence; and, as if mad at the offence given her; either spits it out, or otherwise ejects it from the system. But tlie constant application of it from year to year; will, in the course of time; so wear out her energies, that she will sink under the reiterated assaults.
hibiting the sale of them under severe penalties. Why then is tobacco so generally used; and why are so few efforts made to save the world from its deadly influence? Why? Because of its intoxicating property,—the appetite and habit is so strong that the grave must open to make a man throw away his pipe or his quid. Men are held captive by it, in the same way that they are held captive by alcohol. It does not, so generally, it is true, make men stagger like alcohol, but it as really blinds and deceives. Few of those who use alcohol apprehend any injurious results. And just so it is with those who use tobacco; some of both classes have at times awful convictions that its use is injurious; and will bring them through a wilderness of woes, prematurely to the grave; but the cup in the one case, and the pipe or quid in the other; lulls their fears.
all these, and numerous other ills. To take tobacco for a cold and watery stomach would be like taking a portion of corrosive sublimate to antidote the corrosions of a dose of arsenic. To take tobacco to purify the breath would be like turning a current of air from a common sewer into our parlors to sweeten them. And as to headache, and weak eyes, we promise the inveterate user of tobacco that as soon as he can get his system delivered from its influence, the aches of his head and the weakness of his eyes will leave him. But some will say, "We have been afflicted with these ills, and tobacco has given us relief." So says the spirit drinker. But we positively know, from personal experience, that all these ills have been produced by tobacco; and a very little knowledge of the nature of the article is sufficient to convince any man that its direct tendency is to produce them, unless it be employed to counteract the influence of other poisons already in the system.
CHAPTER II.
THE INFLUENCE OF TOBACCO UPON THE BODY.
passes through the body. But it could not with any safety be retained in the stomach, and if taken into the system by being mixed with the food, the consequence would be quickly fatal (See note A.) No man, in health, can make a daily use of it, to gratify his appetite, without certain injury to his constitution. He may not perceive the injurious effects for years, on account of the immediate exhilaration, but complicated chronic complaints will, after a time, creep upon him, making life a burden, and ending in premature dissolution, though he may impute his sufferings to other causes, and even die folded, in unsuspicious confidence, in the arms of his murderer.
and as I watched the smoke ascend in clouds above my head, I decided to persevere, until my pipe was out, notwithstanding I began to feel queer, and it made my tongue smart sorely; however, I rued my determination, for long ere I had done puffing my head began to ache, and just when my pipe was out, a cold sweat came over me, and then a shivering fit, and at last, nature, offended with the trick I had played her, by a fit of sickness, threw off some of the effects of the tobacco smoke."
sight; it creates thirst and loss of appetite, and, in this, and other ways, often lays the foundation for intemperance.
foundeth the senses with sudden astonishment and stupidity of the whole body."
his quid, or sucks his pipe, or suffocates himself with tobacco dust, but instead of light, behold darkness and the shadow of death come upon him. We speak what we do know, and testify what we have seen;—would that we knew less.
seventeen years of age, of a pulmonary consumption, whose disorder was brought on by the intemperate use of cigars."
its nauseous taste, and stimulant property, excite and keep up a profuse discharge from the mucous fallicles and salivary glands. The great increase of this just before and after eating, and the large quantities swallowed about that time, is unequivocal evidence of its importance to the digestive economy. What then must be the state of that man's digestion, who, until seated at table, keeps his quid in his mouth, and immediately returns it thither after rising from his meal? And when we reflect that large quantities of saliva strongly impregnated with this poison, and even particles of the substance itself, are frequently swallowed, what, again I ask, is the probable condition of such a person's digestive organs?"
the philosophy of causes and their effects. A writer in the Journal of Health says, "Experiments on animals show, that if a decoction of opium or tobacco be applied to the brain or spinal marrow, there is at first increased excitation of the heart, and ready contraction of the muscles: but after a time the circulation becomes more languid, and the muscles refuse to contract under any irritant even directly applied to them.
complexion losing its freshness, is of a turbid hue, or decidedly jaundiced."
it! At last she abandoned the snuff-box; the muscles re-acquired their proper tone; and in a short time after she was entirely cured of her disorder, which was occasioned solely by her attachment to her snuff-box, and to which she had nearly fallen a martyr."
| A Dissertation on the Use and Abuse of Tobacco Wherein the Advantages and Disadvantages Attending the Consumption of that Entertaining Weed are Particularly Considered: Humbly Addressed to all the Tobacco-Consumers in Great Britain and Ireland, But Especially to Those Among Religious People (London: G. Whitfield, 1797; London, G. Whitfield, 1798; Liverpool: J. Nuttall, 1805; Newburyport [Mass]: Thomas & Whipple, 1812; Salem: Henry Whipple, 1812; Burlington, N.J.: David Allinson & Co., 1812; London, 1814; New York: C. S. Van Winkle, 1819; New York : M'Elrath and Bangs, 1829; Baltimore: Sherwood & Co., 1845; London, W. Tegg & Co., 1857; Newburyport: Thomas & Whipple, 1900 and 1983; London: Whitfield, 1900 and 1983; New York: Van Winkle, 1900 and 1983; and Burlington, N.J.: Allinson & Co., 1900 and 1983) |
consumption brought on by the immoderate use of this powder." We were well acquainted with one aged gentleman, occupying a high station in society, who was ever complaining of coldness and distresses in his head, to find relief from which he took a variety of medicines, never thinking that his difficulties were occasioned altogether by the use of snuff. He, however, continued the practice, and fell a victim.
snuff, may be applied to the tender internal surface of the nose, it may be proper to inquire; for if the oil of tobacco is a mortal poison when applied to the open vessels of a wound, surely this plant, when taken in substance as snuff, must be injurious. From the infinite number of nerves diffused over the mucous membrane of the nose, it is endowed with exquisite feeling, and the better to preserve the sense of smelling, those nerves are continually lubricated with moisture. By the almost caustic acrimony of snuff this moisture is dried up, and those fine delicate nerves, the organs of smelling are rendered useless and almost insensible. To this self-evident bad effect, may be added the narcotic, or stupefying power of tobacco, by which not only the brain and nerves are injured, but also the eyes, depending upon their influence."
in little scirrous intumescences, which, if kept easy and free from everything of an irritating character, will continue harmless, but which the use of snuff sometimes frets into incurable ulcers and cancers. By the use of snuff, tumors are also generated in and around the throat which obstruct deglutition, and even destroy life. Dr. [John] Hill saw a female die of hunger, who could swallow no nourishment, because of a polypus which closed up the stomach, the formation of which was attributed to snuff. The drain of the juices by tobacco has a tendency to injure the muscles of the face, to render them flaccid, to furrow and corrugate the skin, and to give a gaunt, withered, and jaundiced appearance to the human face.
tion he remained till I brought a person who gave him several pinches, and he then informed us that he had commenced his journey that morning, supposing he had his snuff-box with him, but found very soon he had started without it; that he had travelled as long as he was able, till at last, overcome by distress, he found it impossible to proceed any further, and without my timely succor he would certainly have perished."
"To such a height with some is fashion grown,
They feed their very nostrils with a spoon;—
One, and but one degree is wanting yet
To make their senseless luxury complete,
Some choice regale, useless as snuff and dear,
To feed the mazy windings of the ear."
stomach resumed its wonted tone, his muscles acquired their former elasticity, and his speaking was no more annoyed by a relaxation of the azygus uvulæ. Another man, who used tobacco very sparingly, became affected with loss of appetite, sickness at the stomach, emaciation, and melancholy. From a conviction that even the small quantity he chewed was the source of his trouble, he entirely left it off, and very soon recovered.
continued long and obstinate, he has nearly or quite recovered his former health. And he has never doubted that the use of tobacco was the cause of all his suffering from this disagreeable disease."
CHAPTER III.
THE INFLUENCE OF TOBACCO UPON THE MIND.
"although," says Dr. [William] Alcott, "many people of real intelligence become addicted to this practice, as is the case especially among the learned in Germany, yet it cannot be denied that, in general, those individuals and nations, whose mental powers are the weakest, are, (in proportion to their means of acquiring it,) most enslaved to it."Zimmerman says, "The Gypsies suspended their predatory excursions, and on an appointed night in every week assembled to enjoy their guilty spoils in the
fumes of strong waters, and tobacco." The censure of Chesterfield upon snuff taking is rather severe, although it applies equally to smoking and chewing. After characterizing the use of tobacco in any form as both vulgar and filthy, he adds, "Besides, snuff takers are generally very dull and shallow people, and have recourse to it merely as a fillip to the brain; by all means, therefore, avoid the filthy custom."
ness, confusion of ideas, violent pain in the stomach, vomiting, convulsions, and even death."
because in proportion as the mind is weakened it is incapable of knowing or describing the process by which it has become so.
the power of expression sluggish. The abandonment of tobacco will, in the course of time, be the restoration of the intellect to its wonted vigor; if its elasticity be not completely destroyed by the withering influence of this strong narcotic.
been known, like alcohol to issue in delirium tremens. (See note C.) Why should it not? Its nature is adapted to produce it. It has often stupefied and discouraged the student, bewildered the philosopher, and confused and darkened the divine. Many a splendid sermon has it enveloped in smoke. 0, that some of its victims would speak out,—that some of those gigantic powers which it has prostrated could lift up their notes of warning; they would send a thrill of anguish through the bones and marrow of every man who possesses the least spark of humanity or religion.
tion, his flesh increased, and he soon regained his health."
insanity as alcohol. Why should it not? What is the nature of tobacco? It contains as its basis a most powerful narcotic poison, possessing properties of the kind that opium does, with this addition, that it is more immediately irritating to the tissues of the body to which it is applied. Though for a season the system rejects and expels the nicotine, the most deadly of its properties, yet parts of its deleterious qualities without doubt mix with the chyle, which is to form part of the mass of blood, and is carried with it into the circulation, and courses through every vessel and is exhaled at every pore. Few articles more powerfully affect the nervous system. No wonder that it impairs the memory of those who use it, weakens all their intellectual powers, and sends down its influence to posterity, so that the children of those who use it to excess are more liable to insanity.
in the most perfect manner a healthy action? There is none. What gland can extract from it the least portion of nutriment or any thing which can contribute to healthy or be in any way useful in the animal economy? There is none. The anatomist, the physiologist, the chemist, and the physician examine with the minutest care every part throughout the whole body, and they can find none. GOD has made none, and there is none.
territory. Never, till vital power is prostrated, can the enemy have a lodgment. And if through decay of organic vigor, by the mighty force of the intruder by the long continuance of the war, and by perpetual successions of new recruits, it cannot be expelled, the work of death is done;—the last citadel of life surrenders, and the banner of universal ruin waves over all. Thousands of such conquests are made every year; conquests of territories more valuable than all the material wealth of creation. Before, the prospect was like Eden,—-afterward, like a land of sepulchres, with the shrivelled carcasses of tobacco consumers, sending up in clouds their poisonous exhalations, wafting contagion and death through the land.
hoped that the time is not far distant, when it will be understood what the matter is! The use of tobacco tends to derange healthy mental action in another way,—by its irritating effect on the nerves. This leads in many cases to total insanity; as, we believe, the records of every lunatic asylum in Christendom would testify if an accurate examination and discovery could be made.
being, no injurious effects are perceived. Give him now a small portion of opium, and you lay him in a gentle sleep. Now administer a small quantity of tobacco, and mark its effects: presently he turns pale, then a.cold sweat comes over him, a general lassitude, and a nausea, deadly, and painful in the extreme. Judging from the effects, which now of these poisons is the most fearful?
CHAPTER IV.
THE INFLUENCE OF TOBACCO ON THE MORALS.
farther adds as his belief that the tobacco plant was the true Indian conquest for which the jolly god has been so celebrated. He, moreover intimates that the Thyrsus of that deity was afterwards ornamented with leaves of tobacco, instead of ivy.
"For even the derivation of the name
Seems to allude and to include the same
Tobacco as IT %"PPT (To Bakcho) one would say
To cup-god Bacchus dedicated ay."
| "As in the night, imagining some fear,
How easy is a bush supposed a bear." |
| Ed. Note: As a result of their brain's tobacco-induced delusional or paranoiac notions, such smokers become abulic, "dépossédés du sens humain . . . par une impulsion qu'on ne peut qualifier que de folie . . . désordre . . . comme les bêtes fauves . . . . dégradation narcotique les abaisse . . . rage . . . déchirent, ils mutilent sans nécessité, par instinct féroce."—Dr. Hippolyte A. Dépierris, Physiologie Sociale: Le Tabac (Paris: Dentu, 1876), p 342. See also the analysis by Vernon H. Mark, M.D., and Frank R. Ervin, M.D., Violence and the Brain (New York: Harper & Row, 1970). |
| Ed. Note: See 1572 massacre background by Dr. Depierris, Physiologie Sociale, p 41; and a similar subsequent tobacco-related massacre in 1871, p 334. |
therefore, are inebriating: and those who habitually indulge in it may with propriety be denominated drunkards." [Ed. Note: modern term, addicts.]
followed by a general use of brandy and water as a common drink, more especially by that class of citizens who have not been in the habit of drinking wine or malt liquors. One of the greatest sots I ever knew, acquired a love for ardent spirits by swallowing cuds of tobacco, which he did to escape detection in the use of it; for he had contracted the habit of chewing, contrary to the advice and commands of his father. He died of a dropsy under my care in the year 1780."
into his present wretched and miserable condition. Without any desire for ardent spirits, he first sipped a little gin and water, to allay the disagreeable sensation brought on by smoking, as water was altogether too insipid to answer the purpose. Thus he went on from year to year, increasing his stimulus from one degree to another until he lost all control over himself, and now he stands as a beacon,.warning others to avoid the same road to destruction."
use tobacco, often use alcoholic drinks without violating their pledge; for their pledge allows them to take it as a medicine; and under the thousand various ills occasioned by tobacco, they feel the need of some alcoholic stimulant to restore them, and it is often prescribed by their physician. But let them throw aside their tobacco and they will need none; nature will move onward in her own strength, and find her own enjoyment. As long also as temperance men use their tobacco, others will plead it as a justification for using their occasional glass. That tobacco possesses an inebriating quality peculiarly its own, no man who has carefully examined its nature and effects, will presume to deny. It is as rational then to expect that the cause of temperance will triumph in China while they continue their opium, as to expect its final triumph in America, while we continue our tobacco. (See note D.)
of intemperance are lost to the influence of motives, of arguments, and of facts." It certainly would seem as if motives dissuading from this habit were heard in every voice, and wafted on every breeze. They are presented in the shrivelled aspect, in the nasal twang, in the fœtid breathe, in the sallow complexion, in the filthy habits, and in the numerous diseases occasioned by tobacco. They are thundered in our ears by the immoral companionship, the irreligious tendencies, the useless expense, and the suicidal nature of this habit. Yet all these are often found too feeble to induce even a professor of religion to break off a habit which he is ashamed to own has much power over him, and for the continuance of which he cannot give one substantial reason.
a dark and dingy hue. She re-examined herself in the glass, and could not but observe that her complexion, which was formerly clear and beautiful, was extremely sallow. She threw her snuff-box in the fire, and it was but a short time before her friends, without knowing the cause, had occasion to congratulate her on her improved appearance.
well aware, will be thought strong language to use in reference to tobacco, although it would not be thought too strong in relation to alcohol. Let the following question then be seriously considered,
How can a mind be prepared profitably to receive and entertain religious truth, so much under the influence of a powerful narcotic, that the absence of it produces general uneasiness, a kind of vacancy of thought and, in some instances, distraction?It is in vain for those who use it to say that they cannot perceive any sensible impression from it. So says the spirit drinker when he has taken but one or two glasses. Take away the man's tobacco, and you put him to the torture. Has it then no influence upon him? Strange that men should deny what is so perfectly obvious to those who have gained the conquest over their appetite. "0 that men should put an enemy in their mouth to steal away their brains!"
the habit of using tobacco. So strong is its power over a man, that those addicted to it have no confidence in the final success of any attempt to leave it off. If one speaks unfavorably of its use, the question is, "How long since you quit the practice?" "Six months," perhaps is the reply. "Don't boast then," is the rejoinder, "before the year expires you will be as deep in guilt as ever." A man must have quit it for years before any confidence will be felt that his victory is complete. It is like a right eye or a right hand, and how much soever it may cause us to offend [I Mark 9:42-47], few have the strength of purpose to separate themselves from it forever.
petite and passion. It weakens the motives to good, and strengthens the motives to evil. In direct and palpable violation of what the Saviour teaches us as the proper daily petition of every soul under heaven; it leads men into temptation, and delivers them to evil. Taking "day by day," not "daily bread," but a poison of a most deceitful and malignant kind, that divine agent, who loathes it and all its effects as an utter abomination, and who would otherwise illuminate, and purify, and save with an everlasting salvation, is grieved away.
CHAPTER V.
THE ILLUSORY INFLUENCE OF TOBACCO.
"Harriot enlarges much on the virtues of this herb, concluding his eulogium with the remark; that those who employ it are not only freed from all kinds of obstructions in the system, but are, in
addition, cured of those which they might chance to have, even though the complaint be of long standing. Master Harriot would seem, however, to have taken a spite towards tobacco subsequently, for in his Journal quoted by Knickerbocker he says, of the Susquehanocks—"Their tobacco pipes were three quarters of a yard long, carved at the great end witli a bird, bear, or other device, sufficient to beat out the brains of a horse!' (and how many asses' brains are beaten out, or rather men's brains smoked out, and asses' brains haled in, by our lesser pipes at home!")
under its influence often have, for a moment, most horrible convictions that it is deeply injuring them, but even then the very next instant they will resort to its use, and persuade themselves that it is a comfort and a blessing. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing [I James 3:10] on this stupefying, blinding weed.
"Stinking'st of the stinking kind,
Filth of the mouth and fog of the mind,
Africa that brags her foyson,
Breeds no such prodigious poison;
Henbane, night-shade, both together
Hemlock, aconite—Plant divine of rarest virtue; —Nay, rather,
Blisters on the tongue would hurt you;
Twas but in a sort I blamed thee,
None e'er prospered who defamed thee."
the cross. First let me observe that the Cardina Santa Croce first introduced tobacco into Italy. His ancestors had the reputation of having brought into the same country the wood of the true cross. Thus speaks Bayle as translated by M. de Maizeaux:
Sore eyes relieves, and healeth wounds; the same
Discusses the king's evil, and removes
Cancers and boils; a remedy it proves
For burns and scalds, repels the nauseous itch,
And straight recovers from convulsion fits,
It cleanses, dries, binds up, and maketh warm:
The headache, tooth-ache, colic like a charm
It ceaseth soon; an ancient cough relieves,
And to the veins, and milt, and stomach give
Quick riddance from the pains which each endures;
Next the dire wounds of poisoned arrows cures;
All bruises heals, and when the gums are sore,
It makes them sound and healthy as before.
Sleep it procures, our anxious sorrows lays,
And with new flesh the naked bone arrays.
No herb hath greater power to rectify
All the disorders in the breast that lie,
Or in the lungs. Herb of immortal fame!
Which hither first by Santa Croce came,
When he (his time of nunciature expired)
Back from the Court of Portugal retired;
Even as his predecessors, great and good,
Brought home the Cross, whose consecrated wood,
All Christendom now with its presence blesses;
And still the illustrious family possesses
The name of Santa Croce, rightly given,
Since they in all respects resembling Heaven,
Procure as much as mortal men can do,
The welfare of our soul and bodies too."
weed to one of his prime agents, Bacchus, might impair its wide-spread, deadly influence, he made an effort to give it another name, and call it after John Nicot, who first introduced it into France. He succeeded, however, in affixing it, nicotiana, only as its botanical surname. To us, however, it seems exceedingly proper that it should take part of the name of Nicot. "Old Nic," would be an appropriate name—it would foil tlie devil in his device—and might help some to understand its nature. As it is employed in his service, let it bear his name.
course of future events. Their physicians also got inebriated with this smoke, and pretended that while under the influence of this intoxication, they were admitted to the council of the gods, who revealed to them the event of diseases."