The Western Journal of Medicine

MISCELLANY.

PHYSIOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF TOBACCO.

(This is the concluding portion of a very interesting article having the above title, by Prof. Hammond, which we find in the last number of the American Review.)

During the series of experiments immediately preceding, when the food was insufficient to maintain the weight of the body, there had been an almost constant sensation of hunger, and a marked degree of debility. Neither of these conditions existed before the use of tobacco was begun.

First-That to

From the whole of the experiments I conclude: bacco does not materially affect the excretion of carbonic acid through the lungs. Second-That it lessens the amount of aqueous vapor given off in respiration. Third-That it diminishes the amount of the intestine excretion. Fourth-That it lessens the quantity of the excretion, and the amount of its urea and chlorides. Fifth-That it increases the amount of free acid, uric acid, and sulphuric and phosphoric acids eliminated through the kidneys. The general purport of the experiments, therefore, is, that tobacco retards the waste of the tissues, though the fact that it increases the amount of phosphoric acid would seem to show that the destructive metamorphosis of the nervous tissue was increased.

It must be remembered that the amount of tobacco used was largeamounting, as it did, to six cigars a day. Subsequent experiments which I made, smoking only three cigars daily, one after each meal, showed that the effect of this moderate amount was to decrease the quantity of phosphoric acid excreted from the system. The question, therefore, scarcely admits of a doubt, that, other things being equal, a person can do more mental and physical labor, and with less fatigue, under the moderate use of tobacco than without it. The excessive use may be injurious, just as may be the excessive use of almost any substance taken as food or drink.

Another important physiological effect of tobacco is seen in its action upon the stomach, as increasing the excretion, gastric juice, and thus promoting digestion. It is a well recognized physiological fact, that a very intimate sympathetic connection exists between the stomach and the salivary glands. A mild sensation of hunger makes the "mouth water," and an increase in the quantity of saliva created is

These experiments were, first, to ascertain the effect of tobacco, when a sufficient quantity of food was digested to maintain the weight of the body. Second, to determine the influence of tobacco, when the food was insufficient, and when, consequently, the body was losing weight.

almost invariably attended by an increase in the quantity of gastric juice. This is shown by making a fistula in the stomach of a dog, so that the gastric juice can be collected as soon as it is formed. Now if any strongly sapid substance-as a piece of tobacco for instancebe put into the dog's mouth, an increased secretion of saliva takes place, and at the same time gastric juice is formed in large quantity, and pours through the fistula into a vessel placed to receive it. A cigar acts in the same way upon the salivary glands and stomach of a smoker. To smoke after meals is, therefore, a perfectly orthodox physiological act, and is another example of coincidence between instinct and science. Many cases of dyspepsia are cured by this simple means. Tobacco, by diminishing the destructive metamorphosis of the tissues, enables mankind to support the effects of hunger with less loss of strength, and less bodily and mental fatigue, than would otherwise result. The experience of soldiers and travellers suffices to establish this fact, and is a matter of such popular notoriety that it is scarcely necessary to cite examples. I have frequently noticed the phenomena in my own person. But the chief influence of tobacco is exerted upon the brain, and other parts of the nervous system, and it is mainly to secure this effect that man uses the substance at all. The tendency of civilization is to increase the wear and tear of nerve tissue. New pursuits, new duties, the spread of learning, the discoveries of science, the struggle for wealth and position, the turning of the night into day, and hundreds of other factors, act with a power under which many minds go down into darkness, and others are more or less shattered. To avoid the action of these causes is impossible, without a thorough change in the condition of society, and an arrest of the mental development of mankind. Even if we could accomplish either of these ends, it would certainly be undesirable to make the attempt. But it is assuredly proper for us to look for some means capable of lessening the ill effects which are produced by the labors, the anxieties, the sorrows, the troubles, of which every man who keeps up with the world must expect to bear a large share, and which can not be altogether avoided by persons of the most quiet pursuits.

Among the substances which man has been led to use in order to bring about this result, tobacco is one of the most efficacious, as it is the least harmful. As a soother of the nervous system, and a promoter of reflection, it acts with a degree of certainty and yet of mildness, which places it far above all its cogeners. Under its influence the nervous substance, especially that of the brain and sympathetic system, is preserved from the inroads to which it would otherwise be subjected. The ability to comprehend is increased, the judgment is rendered clearer, the power of the will is augmented, and all this without the degree of exhaustion which otherwise follows every prolonged mental effort. The greatest men the world has ever seen used tobacco, and men both great and commonplace will continue to use it till they get something better. But tobacco, to be most advantageous to mankind, should be used with moderation. Like every other good thing it is a two-edged sword, and, when employed to excess, it often causes neuralgia, indigestion and more or less derangement of the

whole organization. It is wonderful, however, to see how many persons can endure the abuse of tobacco without apparent inconvenience. Those most liable to suffer are youths whose nervous systems are undeveloped, and to whom it is no more suited than pork and beans for an infant's stomach. Whether therefore, we regard the use of tobacco in moderation from a sanitary or physiological point of view, we find no grounds for the apprehensions which have been expressed relative to its deleterious influence. On the contrary, it is very certain that the moderate habitual use of the substance in question is often decidedly beneficial, and that many persons become so accustomed to excess, or are so constituted that they are not injured, even though they smoke, chew, snuff, and pass the greater part of their lives in an atmosphere saturated with tobacco and its exhalations.

SYDENHAM'S ADMONITION TO DOCTORS.-Few once reading can readily forget these golden words of Sydenham; nevertheless, we will all be better for being reminded of them:

"He who gives himself to the study and work of medicine ought seriously to ponder these four things-First, That he must, one day, give an account to the Supreme Judge of the lives of the sick committed to his care. Secondly, That whatsoever of art, or of science, he has by the divine goodness attained, is to be directed mainly to the glory of the Almighty, and the safety of mankind, and that it is a dishonor to himself and them, to make these celestial gifts subservient to the vile lusts of avarice and ambition. Moreover, Thirdly, that he has undertaken the charge of no mean or ignoble creature, and that in order to his appreciating the true worth of the human race, he should not forget that the only begotten Son of God became a man, and thus far ennobled, by his own dignity, the nature he assumed. And lastly, that as he is himself not exempted from the common lot, and is liable and exposed to the same laws of mortality, the same miseries and pains, as are all the rest; so he may endeavor the more diligently, and with a more tender affection, as being himself a fellow sufferer, to help them who are sick."

ness.

INGRATITUDE. If thou hast the brow to endure the name of traitor, perjured or oppressor, yet cover thy face when ingratitude is thrown at thee. If that degenerate vice possess thee, hide thyself in the shadow of thy shame, and pollute not noble society. Grateful ingenuities are content to be obliged within some compass of retribution; and being depressed by the weight of iterated favours, may so labor under their inabilities of requital, as to abate the content from kindBut narrow self-ended souls make prescription of good offices, and obliged by often favours think others still due unto them: whereas, if they but once fail, they prove so perversely ungrateful, as to make nothing of former courtesies, and to bury all that's past. Such tempers pervert the generous course of things; for they discourage the inclinations of noble minds, and make beneficency cool unto acts of obligation, whereby the grateful world should subsist, and have their consolation. Common gratitude must be kept alive by the additionary fuel of new courtesies: but generous gratitudes, though but once well obliged, without quickening repetitions or expectation of new favours, have thankful minds for ever; for they write not their obligations in sandy but marble memories, which wear not out but with themselves.-From Sir Thos. Browne's Christian Morals.