An Essay on the Influence of Tobacco upon Life and Health | Page 7

unobserved, till, under the operation of an exciting or disturbing
cause, their accumulated force breaks out, in the form of some fearful
or incurable disease. The poison, which comes from vegetable
decompositions, on extensive marshes and the borders of lakes, after
being received into the body, remains apparently harmless, in some
instances, a whole year, before it kindles up a wasting intermittent, or a
destructive bilious remittent fever.
Facts of this nature show, that pernicious influences may be exerted
upon the secret springs of life, while we are wholly unconscious of
their operation. Such is the effect of the habitual use of tobacco and
other narcotics, and of all stimulants which, like them, make an
impression upon the whole nervous system, without affording the
materials of supply or nutrition.
It is an alleged fact, that, previously to the age of forty years, a larger
mortality exists in Spanish America than in Europe. The very general
habit of smoking tobacco, existing among children and youth as well as
adults, it has been supposed, and not without reason, might explain this
great mortality. Like ardent spirits, tobacco must be peculiarly
pernicious in childhood, when all the nervous energy is required to aid
in accomplishing the full and perfect developement of the different
organs of the body, and in ushering in the period of manhood. I once
knew a boy, eight years of age, whose father had taught him the free
use of the tobacco cud, four years before. He was a pale, thin, sickly
child, and often vomited up his dinner.

To individuals of sedentary habits and literary pursuits, tobacco is
peculiarly injurious, inasmuch as these classes of persons are, in a
measure, deprived of the partially counteracting influence of air and
exercise. I have prescribed for scores of young men, pursuing either
college or professional studies, who had been more or less injured by
the habitual use of this plant.
In the practice of smoking there is no small danger. It tends to produce
a huskiness of the mouth, which calls for some liquid. Water is too
insipid, as the nerves of taste are in a half-palsied state, from the
influence of the tobacco smoke; hence, in order to be tasted, an article
of a pungent or stimulating character is resorted to, and hence the
kindred habits of smoking and drinking. A writer in one of the
American periodicals, speaking of the effect of tobacco, in his own case,
says, that smoking and chewing "produced a continual thirst for
stimulating drinks; and this tormenting thirst led me into the habit of
drinking ale, porter, brandy, and other kinds of spirit, even to the extent,
at times, of partial intoxication." The same writer adds, that "after he
had subdued his appetite for tobacco, he lost all desire for stimulating
drinks." The snufftaker necessarily swallows a part of it, especially
when asleep, by which means its enfeebling effects must be increased.
The opinion that tobacco is necessary to promote digestion is altogether
erroneous. If it be capable of soothing the uneasiness of the nerves of
the stomach, occurring after a meal, that very uneasiness has been
caused by some error of diet or regimen, and may be removed by other
means. If tobacco facilitate digestion, how comes it, that, after laying
aside the habitual use of it, most individuals experience an increase of
appetite and of digestive energy, and an accumulation of flesh?
It is sometimes urged, that men occasionally live to an advanced age,
who are habitual consumers of this article; true, and so do some men
who habitually drink rum, and who occasionally get drunk; and does it
thence follow that rum is harmless or promotes long life? All, that
either fact proves, is, that the poisonous influence is longer or more
effectually resisted, by some constitutions than by others. The man,
who can live long under the use of tobacco and rum, can live longer

without them.
An opinion has prevailed in some communities, that the use of tobacco
operates, as a preservative against infectious and epidemic diseases.
This must be a mistake. Whatever tends to weaken or depress the
powers of the nervous system predisposes it to be operated upon, by the
causes of these diseases. If tobacco afford protection, in such cases,
why does it not secure those who use it, against cholera? In no
communities, perhaps, has that disease committed more frightful
ravages, than where all classes of persons are addicted to the free use of
this article. In Havana, in 1833, containing a stationary population of
about one hundred and twenty thousand, cholera carried off, in a few
weeks, if we may credit the public journals, sixteen thousand; and, in
Matanzas, containing a population of about twelve thousand, it was
announced that fifteen hundred perished. This makes one-eighth