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

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 less, had resulted from his self-denial.
Cases Illustrative of the Effects of Tobacco.
A gentleman of distinction, in the profession of law in New Hampshire, wrote me under date of Dec. 10, 1833, as follows.
"At the age of twelve years, misled by some boyish fancy, I commenced the use of tobacco, and continued it with little restraint for about nineteen years. Generally I was in the habit of chewing tobacco, but sometimes for two, three or four months together, I exchanged chewing for smoking. I have always led a sedentary