Study and Stimulants | Page 5

is not fair to
do--I should say that coffee is the best stimulant for mental work; next
to that tobacco and quinine; but as I grow older, I observe that alcohol
in reasonable doses is beginning to have a stimulating effect.
GEORGE M. BEARD. March 13, 1882.

PROFESSOR PAUL BERT.
My views on tobacco and alcohol, and their action on the health, may
be summed up in the following four propositions:--
1.--Whole populations have attained to a high degree of civilization and
prosperity without having known either tobacco or alcohol, therefore,
these substances are neither necessary nor even useful to individuals as
well as races.
2.--Very considerable quantities of these drugs, taken at a single dose,
may cause death; smaller quantities stupefy, or kill more slowly. They
are, therefore, poisons against which we must be on our guard.
3.--On the other hand, there are innumerable persons who drink
alcoholic beverages, and smoke tobacco, without any detriment to their
reason or their health. There is, therefore, no reason to forbid the use of
these substances, while suitably regulating the quantity to be taken.
4.--The use of alcoholic liquors and of tobacco in feeble doses, affords

to many persons very great satisfaction, and is altogether harmless and
inoffensive.
We ought, therefore, to attach no stigma to their consumption, after
having pointed out the danger of their abuse. In short, it is with alcohol
and tobacco as with all the pleasures of this life--a question of degree.
As for myself, I never smoke, because I am not fond of tobacco: I very
seldom drink alcoholic liquors, but I take wine to all my meals because
I like it.
PAUL BERT. March 1, 1882.

PROFESSOR JOHN STUART BLACKIE.
My idea is, that work done under the influence of any kind of
stimulants is unhealthy work, and tends to no good. I never use any
kind of stimulant for intellectual work--only a glass of wine during
dinner to sharpen the appetite. As to smoking generally, it is a vile and
odious practice; but I do not know that, unless carried to excess, it is in
any way unhealthy. Instead of stimulants, literary men should seek for
aid in a pleasant variety of occupation, in intervals of perfect rest, in
fresh air and exercise, and a cultivation of systematic moderation in all
emotions and passions.
J. S. BLACKIE. February 9, 1882.

M. LOUIS BLANC.
In answer to your letter, I beg to tell you that I do not know by
experience what may be the effects of tobacco and alcohol upon the
mind and health, not having been in the habit of taking tobacco and
drinking alcohol.
LOUIS BLANC. March 9, 1882.

MR. J. E. BOEHM, R. A.
It will give me great pleasure if I can in any way contribute to your so
very interesting researches, and I shall be glad to know whether you
have published anything on the subject you have questioned me on. I
find vigorous exercise the first and most important stimulant to hard
work. I get up in summer at six, in winter at seven, take an hour and a
half's hard ride, afterwards a warm bath, a cold douche, and then

breakfast. I work from ten to seven generally; but twice or thrice a
week I have an additional exercise--an hour's fencing before dinner,
which I take at 8 p.m. I take light claret or hock to my dinner, but never
touch any wine or spirits at any other times, and eat meat only once in
twenty-four hours. I find a small cup of coffee after luncheon very
exhilarating. I smoke when hard at work--chiefly cigarettes. After a
long sitting (as I do not smoke while working _from nature_), a
cigarette is a soother for which I get a perfect craving. In the evening,
or when I am in the country doing nothing, I scarcely smoke at all, and
do not feel the want of it there; nor do I then take at evening dinner
more than one or two glasses of wine, and I have observed that the
same quantity which would make me feel giddy in the country when in
full health and vigour, would not have the slightest effect on me when
taken after a hard day's work. I also observed that I can work longer
without fatigue when I have had my ride, than when for any reason I
have to give it up. I have carried this mode of life on for nearly twenty
years, and am well and feel young, though forty-eight. I never see any
one from ten to three o'clock; after that I still work, but must often
suffer interruption. I found that temperament and constitution are rarely,
if ever, a legitimate excuse for departure from abstinence and sober