Tobacco and Alcohol

19

A possible means of testing this inference would be the judicious employment of smoking as a dietetic measure in cases of jaundice. This distressing disease occurs when the torpid liver secretes too little bile. The biliverdine, which would ordinarily be taken up to make bile, remains in the blood until, seeking egress through the sweat-glands, it colours the skin yellow. In the case of novices, however, great care would need to be taken; as unskilful smoking is very likely to induce narcosis.

20

See a paper by Dr. E. Smith, read before the British Association in 1862.

21

See an admirable paper by Lewes in the Fortnightly Review, May 15th, 1865.

22

We fear that this explanation will be rather unintelligible to the general reader. But it is hardly practicable for us to insert here a disquisition on physiological chemistry. Those who are familiar with modern physiology will readily catch our meaning. Those who are not may skip, if they choose, this parenthetical paragraph.

23

"Tobacco, when the food is sufficient to preserve the weight of the body, increases that weight, and when the food is not sufficient, and the body in consequence loses weight, tobacco restrains that loss." Hammond, Physiological Effects of Alcohol and Tobacco, Am. Journal of Medical Sciences, tom. XXXII. N.S., p. 319.

24

In this exposition we have assumed that the tobacco is smoked and the saliva retained. If the saliva be frequently ejected, the case is entirely altered. Habitual spitting incites the salivary glands to excessive secretion, thereby weakening the system to a surprising extent, and probably lowering nutrition. Many temperate smokers, who think themselves hurt by tobacco, are probably hurt only because, though in all other respects gentlemen, they will persist in the filthy habit of spitting. There is no excuse for the habit, for with very little practice the desire to get rid of the saliva entirely ceases, and is never again felt. In chewing, the saliva is so impregnated with the nicotinous constituents of the leaf, that the choice lies far more narrowly between spitting and narcosis. Of the two evils we shall not venture to say which is the least. In snuffing, too, the question is complicated by the acute local irritation caused by the contact of the stimulant with the nasal membranes. This, no doubt, has its medicinal virtues. But for a healthy man it is probable that smoking is the only rational, as it is certainly the only decent, way in which to use tobacco.

25

Mill's System of Logic, 6th ed. vol. I. pp. 503-508.

26

"The Puritans, from the earliest days of their 'plantation' among us, abhorred the fume of the pipe." Fairholt, Tobacco, its History, etc., p. 111.

27

Smoking has also been charged with acting as a predisposing, or even as an exciting, cause of insanity, – a notion effectually disposed of by Dr. Bucknill, in the Lancet, Feb. 28th, 1857. Before leaving this subject, it may be well to allude to Mr. Parton's remarks (p. 35) about "pallid," "yellow," "sickly," and "cadaverous," tobacco-manufacturers. He evidently means to convey the impression that workers in tobacco are more unhealthy than other workmen. Upon this point we shall content ourselves with transcribing the following passage from Christison, On Poisons, p. 731: – "Writers on the diseases of artisans have made many vague statements on the supposed baneful effects of the manufacture of snuff on the workmen. It is said they are liable to bronchitis, dysentery, ophthalmia, carbuncles, and furuncles. At a meeting of the Royal Medical Society of Paris, however, before which a memoir to this purport was lately read, the facts were contradicted by reference to the state of the workmen at the Royal Snuff Manufactory of Gros-Caillou, where 1000 people are constantly employed without detriment to their health. (Revue Médicale, 1827, tom. III. p. 168.) This subject has been since investigated with great care by Messrs. Parent-Duchatelet and D'Arcet, who inquired minutely into the state of the workmen employed at all the great tobacco-manufactories of France, comprising a population of above 4000 persons; and the results at which they have arrived are, – that the workmen very easily become habituated to the atmosphere of the manufactory, – that they are not particularly subject either to special diseases, or to disease generally, – and that they live on an average quite as long as other tradesmen. These facts are derived from very accurate statistical returns. (Annales d'Hygiène, 1829, tom. I. p. 169.)" The reader may also consult an instructive notice in Hammond's Journal of Psychological Medicine, Oct. 1868, vol. II. p. 828.

28

See Dr. Derby's pamphlet on Anthracite and Health, Boston, 1868; and an article by the present writer, in the World, April 11th, 1868.

29

The cigar is, however, usually made of milder tobacco. And an old pipe, saturated with nicotinous oil, may become far stronger than any ordinary cigar.

30

Tobacco, as we have said, may, in an adequate dose, produce well-developed paralysis. Whether the ordinary excessive use of it ever does cause paralysis, is, to say the least, extremely doubtful. Dr. D. W. Cheever says, "The minor, rarely the graver, affections of the nervous system do follow the use of tobacco in excess… Numerous cases of paralysis among tobacco-takers in France were traced to the lead in which the preparation was enveloped." Atlantic Monthly, Aug. 1860. Another instance of the great care needful in correctly tracing the causes of any disease or ailment. Lead-poisoning, when chronic, brings about structural degeneration of the nerve-centres.

31

Paraguay tea is used by 10,000,000 of people; coca by 10,000,000; chicory by 40,000,000; cocoa by 50,000,000; coffee by 100,000,000; betel by 100,000,000; haschisch by 300,000,000; opium by 400,000,000; Chinese tea by 500,000,000; tobacco by 800,000,000; the population of the world being probably not much over one thousand million. See Von Bibra, Die Narkotischen Genussmittel und der Mensch, Preface.

32

Omitting, of course, from the comparison, the class of diseases to which woman is peculiarly subject, as a child-bearer.

33

Opium, as used in moderation by Orientals, has not been proved to exercise any deleterious effects. Very likely it is a healthful stimulant; but it does not appear to agree with the constitutions of the Western races. See Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. xi. p. 364. Probably tea, tobacco and alcohol are the only stimulants adapted alike to all races, and to nearly all kinds of people.

34

Lewes, Life of Goethe, vol. II. p. 267.

35

In illustration it may be noted that as soon as a man has just transgressed the physiological limit which divides stimulation from narcosis, he is liable to throw overboard all prudential considerations and drink until he is completely drunk. This is one of the chief dangers of convivial after-dinner drinking.

36

For the physiology of this pupil-change, not uncommon in various kinds of acute narcosis, see the Appendix to Anstie.

37

Stimulants and Narcotics, pp. 174-178.

38

For this and parallel cases see Hamilton, Lectures on Metaphysics, Lect. XVIII.

39

It has been asserted by teetotalers that the mortality from intemperance is 50,000 a year in the United States alone!! It is to be regretted that friends of temperance are to be found who will persist in injuring the cause by such wanton exaggerations. In the United States, in 1860, the whole number of deaths from all causes was a trifle less than 374,000: the whole number of deaths from intemperance was 931, – that is to say, less than one in 374. See the admirable pamphlet by the late Gov. Andrew, on The Errors of Prohibition, p. 112. In view of these facts, it appears to us many leagues within the bounds of probability to say that hardly one person in ten is a

40

See Anstie, op. cit. pp. 215, 216, 218.

41

This is not always true, however: it is well to look sharp before making a sweeping statement. The digesting power of gastric juice is increased by diluting it with a certain amount of water. See Lehmann, Physiologische Chemie, II. 47.

42

Dunglison, Human Physiology, vol. I. p. 148; Lewes, Physiology of Common Life, vol. I. p. 170.

43

Dunglison, op. cit. I. 196.