An Essay on the Influence of Tobacco upon Life and Health | Page 3

papal power, tobacco has kept on
its way, till it has encircled the earth, and now holds in slavery a larger
number of human minds than any other herb.
Effects of Tobacco upon Animal Life.
To the organs of smell and taste in their natural condition, it is one of
the most disgusting and loathsome of all the products of the vegetable
kingdom.[1]
[Footnote 1: This is proved by applying it to these organs in infancy,
among those children whose parents do not use tobacco. Caspar
Hausser, who was fed wholly on farinaceous food and water, from
infancy to the age of sixteen or seventeen years, was made sick to
vomiting by walking for a "considerable time by the side of a tobacco
field."]
Dr. Franklin ascertained, that the oily material, which floats upon the
surface of water, upon a stream of tobacco smoke being passed into it,
is capable, when applied to the tongue of a cat, of destroying life in a
few minutes.
Mr. Brodie applied one drop of the empyreumatic oil of tobacco to the
tongue of a cat; it occasioned immediate convulsions and an
accelerated breathing. Five minutes after, the animal lay down on the
side, and presented, from time to time, slight convulsive movements. A
quarter of an hour after, it appeared recovered. The same quantity of
the oil was applied again, and the animal died in two minutes.

In December, 1833, aided by several gentlemen of the medical class,
and occasionally in the presence of other individuals, I made a number
of experiments upon cats and other animals, with the distilled oil of
tobacco.
EXPERIMENT 1.
A small drop of the oil was rubbed upon the tongue of a large cat.
Immediately the animal uttered piteous cries and began to froth at the
mouth.
In 1 minute the pupils of the eyes were dilated and the respiration was
laborious. " 2-1/2 do. vomiting and staggering. " 4 do. evacuations; the
cries continued, the voice hoarse and unnatural. " 5 do. repeated
attempts at vomiting. " 7 do. respiration somewhat improved.
At this time a large drop was rubbed upon the tongue. In an instant the
eyes were closed, the cries were stopped, and the breathing was
suffocative and convulsed. In one minute the ears were in rapid
convulsive motion, and, presently after, tremors and violent
convulsions extended over the body and limbs. In three and an half
minutes the animal fell upon the side senseless and breathless, and the
heart had ceased to beat.
Slight tremors of the voluntary muscles, particularly of the limbs,
continued, more or less, for nineteen minutes after the animal was dead.
Those of the right side were observed to be more and longer affected
than those of the left.
Half an hour after death the body was opened, and the stomach and
intestines were found to be contracted and firm, as from a violent and
permanent spasm of the muscular coat. The lungs were empty and
collapsed. The left side of the heart, the aorta and its great branches
were loaded with black blood. The right side of the heart and the two
cavæ contained some blood, but were not distended. The pulmonary
artery contained only a small quantity of blood. The blood was every
where fluid.

EXPERIMENT 2.
A cat was the subject of this experiment. The general effects were very
much like those in the last, excepting, perhaps, that the oil operated
with a little less energy. This cat was said to have lived for several
years, in a room almost perpetually fumigated with tobacco smoke. The
history of the animal employed in Experiment 1, was unknown.
EXPERIMENT 3.
Three drops of the oil of tobacco were rubbed upon the tongue of a
full-sized, but young, cat. In an instant the pupils were dilated and the
breathing convulsed; the animal leaped about as if distracted, and
presently took two or three rapid turns in a small circle, then dropped
upon the floor in frightful convulsions, and was dead in two minutes
and forty-five seconds from the moment that the oil was put upon the
tongue.
EXPERIMENT 4.
To the tongue of a young and rather less than half-grown cat, a drop of
the oil of tobacco was applied. In fifteen seconds the ears were thrown
into rapid and convulsive motions,--thirty seconds fruitless attempts to
vomit. In one minute convulsive respiration; the animal fell upon the
side. In four minutes and twenty seconds violent convulsions. In five
minutes the breathing and the heart's motion had ceased. There was no
evacuation by the mouth or otherwise. The vital powers had been too
suddenly and too far reduced to admit of a reaction. The tremors, which
followed death, subsided first in the superior extremities, and in five
minutes ceased altogether. The muscles