Chapter 2

From the _habitual use_ of tobacco, in either of its forms of snuff, cud, or cigar, the following symptoms may arise; a sense of _weakness_, _sinking_, or _pain_ at the pit of the _stomach_; _dizziness_ or _pain_ in the _head_; occasional _dimness_ or _temporary loss of sight_; _paleness_ and _sallowness_ of the _countenance_, and sometimes _swelling_ of the _feet_; an _enfeebled state_ of the _voluntary muscles_, manifesting itself sometimes by _tremors_ of the _hands_, sometimes by _weakness_, _tremulousness_, _squeaking_ or _hoarseness_ of the _voice_, rarely a _loss_ of the _voice_; _disturbed sleep_, _starting_ from the early _slumbers_ with a _sense_ of _suffocation_ or the feeling of _alarm_; _incubus_, or _nightmare_; _epileptic_ or _convulsion fits_; _confusion_ or _weakness_ of the _mental faculties_; _peevishness_ and _irritability_ of _temper_; _instability_ of _purpose_; seasons of great _depression_ of the _spirits_; long _fits_ of unbroken _melancholy_ and _despondency_, and, in some cases, _entire_ and _permanent mental derangement_.[2]

[Footnote 2: I have recently seen two cases; one caused by the excessive use of snuff, the other by the chewing of tobacco and swallowing the saliva.]

The animal machine, by regular and persevering reiteration or habit, is capable of accommodating itself to impressions made by poisonous substances, so far as not to show signs of injury under a superficial observation, provided they are slight at first, and gradually increased, but it does not hence follow that such impressions are not hurtful. It is a great mistake, into which thousands are led, to suppose that every unfavorable effect or influence of an article of food, or drink, or luxury, must be felt immediately after it is taken. Physicians often have the opportunity of witnessing this among their patients.

The confirmed dyspeptic consults his physician for pain or wind in the stomach, accompanied with headache or dizziness, occasional pains of the limbs, or numbness or tremors in the hands and feet, and sometimes with difficult breathing, disturbed sleep, and a dry cough, and huskiness of the voice in the morning. The physician suggests the propriety of his laying aside animal food for a time; but the patient objects, alleging that he never feels so well as when he has swallowed a good dinner. He is then advised to avoid spirit, wine, cider, beer, &c.; the reply is, "it is impossible, that the little I take can do me hurt; so far from that, it always does me good; I always feel the better for it. I do not need any one to tell me about that." He is asked if he uses tobacco. "Yes, I smoke a little, chew a little, and snuff a little." You had better leave it off altogether, Sir. "Leave it off? I assure you, Doctor, you know but little about it. If I were to leave off smoking, I should throw up half my dinner." That might do you no harm, Sir. "I see you do not understand my case, Doctor; I have taken all these good things, for many years, and have enjoyed good health. They never injured me. How could they have done so without my perceiving it? Do you suppose I have lived so long in the world without knowing what does me good, and what does not?" It would appear so, Sir, and you are in a fair way to die, without acquiring this important knowledge.

The poor man goes away, in a struggle between the convictions of truth and the overwhelming force of confirmed habit. Under the sustaining power of a good constitution, and in the activity of business, he never dreamed of injury from the moderate indulgence, as he regarded it, in the use of stimulants, as spirit, wine, tobacco, &c., till the work was done. His is the case of hundreds of thousands.

The vital principle, in the human body, can so far resist the influences of a variety of poisons, slowly introduced into it, that their effects shall be 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 of the population in both places; and if, as in most other cities, the number of deaths, as published in the journals, falls short of the truth, and a considerable deduction be made from the whole population on account of the great numbers who fled on the appearance of the disease, the mortality will be still greater. In Havana, after the announcement of the foregoing mortality, and after a subsidence of the epidemic, for some weeks, it returned, and destroyed such numbers as to bring back the public alarm. The degree, in which the practice of smoking prevails, may be judged of by a fact, stated by Dr. Abbot in his Letters from Cuba, namely, that, in 1828, it was then the common estimate, that, in Havana, there was an average consumption of _ten thousand dollars' worth of cigars in a day_.

Dr. Moore, who resides in the province of Yucatan, in Mexico, assures me that the city of Campeachy, containing a population of _twenty thousand_, lost, by cholera, in about thirty days, commencing early in July, _four thousand three hundred and a fraction_, of its inhabitants. This is a little short of one-fourth of the population; although Dr. Moore says that the people of Campeachy make it as a common remark, "we have lost one in four of our number." With reference to the habits of the people in that part of Mexico, Dr. Moore says, "every body smokes cigars. I never saw an exception among the natives. It is a common thing to see a child of two years old learning to smoke."

The opinion, that the use of tobacco preserves the teeth, is supported neither by physiology nor observation. Constantly applied to the interior of the mouth, whether in the form of cud or of smoke, this narcotic must tend to enfeeble the gums, and the membrane covering the necks and roots of the teeth, and, in this way, must rather accelerate than retard their decay. We accordingly find, that tobacco consumers are not favored with better teeth than others; and, on the average, they exhibit these organs in a less perfect state of preservation. Sailors make a free use of tobacco and they have bad teeth.

The grinding surfaces of the teeth are, on the average, more rapidly worn down or absorbed, from the chewing or smoking of tobacco for a series of years; being observed in some instances to project but a little way beyond the gums. This fact I have observed, in the mouths of some scores of individuals in our own communities, and I have also observed the same thing in the teeth of several men, belonging to the Seneca and St. Francois tribes of Indians, who, like most of the other North American tribes, are much addicted to the use of this narcotic. In several instances, when the front teeth of the two jaws have been shut close, the surfaces of the grinders, in the upper and lower jaw, especially where the cud had been kept, did not touch each other, but exhibited a space between them of one-tenth to one-sixth of an inch, showing distinctly the effects of the tobacco, more particularly striking upon those parts, to which it had been applied in its most concentrated state.

The expensiveness of the habit of using tobacco is no small objection to it. Let the smoker estimate the expense of thirty years' use of cigars, on the principle of annual interest, which is the proper method, and he might be startled at the amount. Six cents a day, according to the Rev. Mr. Fowler's calculation, would amount to $3,529 30 cents; a sum which would be very useful to the family of many a tobacco consumer when his faculties of providing for them have failed.

Eighty thousand dollars' worth of cigars, it was estimated, were consumed in the city of New York in 1810; at that rate the present annual consumption would amount to more than _two hundred thousand dollars_. The statement of Rev. Dr. Abbot, in his Letters from Cuba, in 1828, already alluded to, is, that the consumption of tobacco, in that Island, is immense. The Rev. Mr. Ingersoll, who passed the winter of 1832-3 in Havana, expresses his belief that this is not an overstatement, he says, "call the population 120,000; say half are smokers; this, at a bit a day (i.e. 12-1/2 cents) would make between seven and eight thousand dollars. But this is too low an estimate, since not men only but women and children smoke, and many at a large expense." He says, that "the free negro of Cuba appropriates a bit (i.e. 12-1/2 cents) of his daily wages, to increase the cloud of smoke that rises from the city and country." This, in thirty years, would amount to $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 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 life. After attaining to manhood, my ordinary weight was about 130 pounds; once or twice only rising to 135, and falling not unfrequently to 125, and sometimes to 117. My appetite was poor and unsteady, the nervous system much disordered, and my life was greatly embittered by excessive and inordinate fear of death. My spirits were much depressed. I became exceedingly irresolute, so that it required a great effort to accomplish, what I now do, even without thinking of it. My sleep was disturbed, faintings and lassitude were my constant attendants.

"I had made two or three attempts to redeem myself from a habit, which I knew was at best useless and foolish, if not prejudicial. But they were feeble and inefficient. Once, indeed, I thought I was sure that the giving up the use of tobacco injured my health, and I finally gave up all hopes of ever ridding myself of this habit.

"In the summer of 1830, my attention was called to the subject, by some friends, whom I visited, and by the advice and example of a friend, who had renounced the practice with the most decided advantage. I thought seriously upon the subject, and felt what had scarce occurred to me before, how degrading it was to be enslaved by a habit so ignoble. I threw away my tobacco at once and entirely, and have not since used the article in any form. Yet this was not done without a great effort, and it was some months before I ceased to hanker for the pernicious weed. Since then my health has decidedly improved. I now usually weigh 145 pounds, and have arisen to 152; rarely below 145. My spirits are better. There is nothing of the faintness, lassitude, and fearful apprehensions before described. My appetite is good and my sleep sound, I have no resolution to boast of, yet considerably more than I formerly had.

"In fine, I cannot tell what frenzy may seize me; yet with my present feelings, I know not the wealth that would induce me to resume the unrestrained use of tobacco, and continue it through life."

To Dr. A. Hobbs, I am indebted for the following case which occurred in his own family connection.

"Mr. J. H. began to chew tobacco at an early age, and used it freely. When about fifty-five years old, he lost his voice and was unable to speak above the whisper for _three_ years. During the four or five years which preceded the loss of his voice, he used a quarter of a pound of tobacco in a week. He was subject to fits of extreme melancholy; for whole days he would not speak to any one, was exceedingly dyspeptic and was subject to nightmare. When about fifty-eight years old, that is, about thirteen years ago, he abandoned his tobacco. His voice gradually returned, and in one year was pretty good; his flesh and strength were greatly increased, and he now has a younger look than when he laid aside his narcotic."

_April, 1834._

The case of Mr. L. B., a shoemaker, now about fifty-two years of age, exhibits strikingly the injurious effects of tobacco. About fourteen years ago, he consulted me on account of dyspepsia, obstinate costiveness, and palpitation of the heart, which symptoms had existed for several years. The palpitation he had observed about seven years before. In a small degree it occurred almost daily. For years a slight fluttering was generally felt, in the morning, for a short time after breakfast, which compelled him to sit still, avoiding mental as well as muscular exertion. After an hour or more, he was better. He was, besides, subject to severe paroxysms of palpitation, occurring at irregular periods. Six or seven of these took place in a year. These turns were excited under stomach irritations or oppression from indigestible food. They came on instantaneously, and often left in a moment; 'the pulse was nothing but a flutter.' So great was the prostration, that, during the paroxysm, he was obliged to lie still upon the bed. The length of the paroxysm was various; sometimes an hour, sometimes several hours.