An Essay on the Influence of Tobacco upon Life and Health | Page 9

$7,058 72, a
respectable estate for a negro, or even for a white man.
The Rev. O. Fowler, from considerable attention to the statistics of
tobacco consumption in the United States, estimates the annual cost at
$10,000,000 The time lost by the use of it, at 12,000,000 The pauper
tax which it occasions, at 3,000,000 __________ $25,000,000
This estimate I must believe to be considerably below the truth. It has
been estimated, that the consumption of tobacco in this country is eight
times as great as in France, and three times as great as in England, in
proportion to the population.
The habit of using tobacco is uncleanly and impolite. It is uncleanly
from the foul odor, the muddy nostril, and darkly-smeared lip it confers,
and from the encouragement it gives to the habit of spitting, which, in
our country, would be sufficiently common and sufficiently loathsome
without it.
"True politeness," said a distinguished English scholar, "is kindness,
kindly expressed." The using of tobacco, especially by smoking, is any
thing but kindness or the kindly expression of it, when it creates an
atmosphere, which, whether it comes directly from the pipe, the cigar,
or deeply imbued clothing, or worse than alligator breath, is absolutely
insupportable to many, who do not use it, causing depression of
strength, dizziness, headache, sickness at the stomach, and sometimes
vomiting. By what rule of politeness, nay, on what principle of common

justice may I poison the atmosphere my neighbor is compelled to
breathe, or so load it with an unhealthy and loathsome material as to
make him uncomfortable or wretched so long as I am in his company?
What would be said of the physician, who, having acquired a strong
liking for asafetida, should allow himself in the constant habit of
chewing it, to the great annoyance, from his foul breath, of many of his
patients, as well as more or less of the healthy individuals of the
families who employ him? Or how would a gentleman traveller be
regarded, who should not only keep his breath constantly imbued with
this asafetida, but also insist upon spurting successive mouthfuls of the
tincture of it upon the floor of a stage-coach, or of the cabin of a
steam-boat? Would he be commended, either for his cleanliness,
politeness, or kindness? Nay, would he be tolerated in such a violation
of the principles of good breeding? I have seen numbers, who have
been made sick, dizzy, and pale, by the breath of a smoker; and I have
seen a person vomit out of a stage-coach, from the influence of that
indescribable breath, which results from alcoholic liquor and tobacco
smoke.
How painful to see young men in our scientific and literary
institutions--men, who are soon to lead in our national councils, to
shape the morals and the manners of the circles of society, in which
they will move--making themselves downright sick, day after day, and
week after week, in order to form a habit of taking a disgusting poison,
steeping their nerves and their intellects in its narcotic influence, the
direct tendencies of which are to impair their health, to enfeeble their
minds, and to disqualify them for a place in cleanly and polite society.
The use of tobacco, like that of alcoholic liquor, should be abandoned
totally and forever. The plan of taking less and less daily, is seldom
successful. This is what is called "trying to leave off." If a little less be
taken one day, generally a little more is taken the next. A respectable
patient, for whom I have prescribed on account of a severe nervous
affection, has been "trying" for the last six months to quit her snuff, and
she is apparently no nearer the accomplishment of her object than
when she began. It does not answer to treat, with the least deference,
an appetite, so unnatural and imperative as that created by a powerful

narcotic; it must be denied abruptly, totally, and perseveringly.
In several of our penitentiaries, tobacco is not allowed to the inmates,
almost all of whom were consumers of it. The testimony of the agents of
these institutions is, that none are injured by quitting this narcotic, but,
that in a few days, seldom over twenty, their uneasiness and agitation
subside, their appetite is increased, and their appearance is manifestly
improved. A distinguished physician has assured me, that he never
knew a person sustain the least permanent injury from the disuse of
tobacco, but, on the contrary, every one had received decided benefit.
My own observation is in perfect accordance with this remark; I have
known a large number of this description, and can say that I have never
conversed with an individual, who, after having been freed from the
habit a year, did not confess that an advantage, greater or