Other Testimonies.-Dr. Gibbons says: "Tobacco impairs digestion, poisons the blood, depresses the vital powers, causes the limbs to tremble, and weakens and otherwise disorders the heart."

can

Dr. Willard Parker says that the manufacturers and users of tobacco not recover soon, and in a healthy manner, from cases of injury or fever. They are more apt to die in epidemics, and more prone to apoplexy and paralysis."

Dr. Hassock makes the use of tobacco one cause of "the alarming frequency of apoplexy, palsy, epilepsy, and other diseases of the nervous system."

Another result of the habit is the creation of a thirst, of which Dr. Rush says: "It cannot be allayed by water, for no sedative, or even insipid liquor, will be relished after the mouth and throat have been exposed to the stimulants of the smoke or the use of tobacco."

Dr. Stephenson says that the salivary glands are so exhausted that "brandy, whisky, or some other spirit is called for."

We have before us excerpts, similar to the above, taken from the professional opinions of hundreds of able medical authorities.

Tobacco Specially Harmful to the Young.-A writer in the Buffalo Medical Journal puts on record the following warning: "The use of tobacco is bad enough when begun in mature life, but it is infinitely worse when the foundations of the habit are laid in early years, as it seems to be the case here."

A distinguished French physician, (M. Decaisne,) has investigated the effect of smoking on thirty-eight boys, between the ages of nine and fifteen, who were addicted to the habit. Twenty-seven presented distinct symptoms of nicotine poison. In twenty-two there were serious disorders of the circulation, indigestion, dullness of intellect, and a marked appetite for strong drinks. In three there was heart affection; in eight decided deterioration of blood; in twelve there was frequent epistaxis; ten had disturbed sleep, and four had ulceration of the mucous membrane of the mouth.

All assert that its use is most injurious to young persons. Even the "Organ of the Tobacco Trade" admits that "Few things could be more pernicious for boys, growing youths, and persons of unformed constitutions, than the use of tobacco in any of its forms."

Tobacco and Paralysis.-A Buffalo correspondent of one of our dailies reports the following: "A case in my own intimate acquaintance has this very week appalled a large circle of friends in this city. The victim was exactly my own years, and a companion from early childhood. For thirty years, at least, he has been a daily smoker of the choicest cigars, but in all his other habits temperate and regular, and of excellent constitution—one,

who, of all men, would have laughed at the suggestion that tobacco was killing him. A week ago last Saturday night he was stricken with a progressive paralysis, characteristic of nicotine, and on Sunday night he died.

Tobacco and Early Physical Weakness.-Says the Scalpel: "So far are we from doubting its power over the moral and physical welfare of the race, that we have not a doubt that it has infinitely more to do with the physical imperfection and early death of the children of its votaries, than its great associate, drunkenness itself. The deficiency of virile power in many instances of longcontinued smokers is very marked. Every surgeon of experience must have observed it. The local surgical and medical treatment most effective in these cases proves conclusively that it is to the debilitating and exhausting influence of tobacco that these sad consequences are due."

Tobacco Pollutes the Atmosphere.-A person who is saturated with tobacco, or tobacco-poisoned, acquires a sodden or dirty yellow hue; two whiffs of his breath will scent a large room; you may nose him before he takes his seat. Of this he is entirely unconscious; he will give you the full force of his lungs, and for the most part such people have a great desire to approach and annoy you. "We have been followed," writes á physician, "round a large office-table by them, backing continually to escape the nuisance, till we had made a revolution or two before our motive was perceived." The Tobacco Appetite often Hereditary.-One of the most alarming facts brought out is the hereditary influence of this indulgence. The evil effects of the habit are sometimes scarcely seen in the parent, but are manifest in the children. Not only the appetite, but disease and physical weakness are transmitted to the children. This fact, well authenticated, should awaken thoughtful consideration on the part of parents who are addicted to this useless habit.

The Excuses of Tobacco Users Trivial.—The pleas set forth for the use of tobacco are generally trivial and easily answered. The evil effects are so many and so evident that, as with intoxicating drinks, the only safe plan is total abstinence. The habit is disagreeable to friends, is injurious to the user, and has very little in its favor. Even its victims admit that it is useless, if not positively injurious, and there are thousands who regret that they ever acquired the appetite. The only relief is a prompt and determined abandonment of tobacco, in every form and for all time.

Smoking Worse than Chewing.-Smoking is less filthy than chewing, but is more injurious to health. Dr. Dixon, of the Scalpel, in an article strongly condemning the use of tobacco in every form, says :

"Our remarks apply in a much more forcible manner to smoking than to chewing. Some people are so silly as to suppose, because they do not spit while smoking, that no harm can ensue; but they should remember that the

oil of tobacco, which contains the deadly nicotine, is volatilized, and circulates with the smoke through the delicate lining membrane of the mouth at each whiff of the cigar, and is absorbed by the extensive continuation of this membrane that lines the nostrils, and acts upon the whole body. The smoke of tobacco is indeed much more rapid in its stupefying effect, as every professed smoker knows. It is usually called 'soothing' by its votaries; but this is, of course, only the first stage of stupefaction; it acts precisely as opium or other narcotics do "

1

Tobacco in the Form of Snuff.-" Tobacco in the form of snuff," says Dr. Rush, "seldom fails of impairing the voice by obstructing the air." At a council of physicians held in London, the question of "snuff-using" came up for discussion, but it engaged the attention of the council for only a few minutes, the discussion being broken off by the unanimous adoption of a resolution declaring the use of snuff to be "a useless and pernicious habit."

"But I Can't Quit It!"-Let the testimonies of the many thousands who have discontinued the use of tobacco-some of them in advanced ageanswer. Said James Parton, who was a slave to the practice for thirty years, and who heroically broke from his chains on the instant of his resolution to do so: "I have less headache, I enjoy exercise more, and step out much more vigorously. My room is cleaner, I think I am better tempered, as well as more cheerful and satisfied. I endure the inevitable ills of life with more fortitude, and look forward more hopefully to the coming years. It did not pay to smoke, but it decidedly pays to stop smoking."

Testimony of John Q. Adams.-"In my early youth I was addicted to the use of tobacco in two of its mysteries-smoking and chewing. I was warned by a medical friend of the pernicious operation of this habit upon the stomach and the nerves; and the advice of the physician was fortified by the results of my own experience. More than thirty years have passed away since I deliberately renounced the use of tobacco in all its forms; and although the resolution was not carried into execution without a struggle of vitiated nature, I never yielded to its impulses; and in the space of three or four months of self-denial, they lost their stimulating power, and I have never since felt it as a privation. I have often wished that every individual of the human race afflicted with this artificial passion could prevail upon himself to try but for three months the experiment which I have made, feeling sure that it would turn every acre of tobacco-land into a wheat-field, and add five years of longevity to the average of human life."

Great Extent of the Tobacco Habit.-A writer in Blackwood's Magazine estimates the whole amount of tobacco grown on the face of the globe at four thousand millions of pounds; and a close estimate shows that the world's tobacco costs, directly, at least one thousand millions of dollars annually. To this has to be added the loss of the land on which it is grown, and

of the thousands of persons engaged in its cultivation and manufacture. The wealth-producing power of both land and men is lost, because the product of their toil does not add wealth to the country, or increase the nation's power of producing wealth. Besides, the effect of tobacco growing is to impover ish the soil. Gen. John H. Cooke, of Virginia, says: "Tobacco exhausts the land beyond all other crops. As a proof of this, every homestead from the

Atlantic border to the head of tide-water is a mournful monument. It has been the besom of destruction, which has swept over this once fertile region." The use of tobacco is a tax on the health and wealth of the user, and money thus spent is worse than wasted.

OPIUM-EATING AND HEALTH.

Powerful Effects of Opium.-The quantity of opium necessary to cause death varies according to the circumstances and age of the person. Infants can bear a very small quantity-one drop of laudanum has been known to kill a child. Children are extremely susceptible to its influence. Two drams have been known to kill an adult. Opium kills in from four to twelve hours. Liquid preparations of opium and the salts of morphia act very rapidly.

Symptoms of Opium Poison.-The patient trembles, becomes giddy, drowsy, and unable to resist the tendency to sleep, the stupor deepens until insensibility ensues. The pupils become contracted, the eyes and face congested, the pulse becomes slow and feeble. The respiration becomes slow -the breathing stertorous, profuse perspiration occurs, the coma becomes deeper, and death ensues.

Treatment of Poison by Opium.-The stomach should be emptied by the stomach-pump, or by emetics. Twenty grains of zinc, or ipecac, or a tablespoonful of mustard or common salt will suffice to eject the poison. Copious draughts of warm-water should be given to keep up the vomiting. Strong coffee is an antidote, and brandy and ammonia should be frequently given by the mouth, or by injection.

Opium-Chewing.—This terrible habit prevails much more widely than many suspect. The appetite for it is generally caused by the use of the drug in prescriptions during sickness. Physicians and patients should carefully and intelligently guard against such evil effects, and in order to do this the drug should be used sparingly, and only when imperatively needed. Symptoms of Opium-Chewing.—Persons addicted to the use of opium are recognizable by the face, which is sallow, pinched, and has a parchmentlike appearance. The eyes become glassy and receding when deprived of the drug, there is an unsteady, trembling gait, depression of spirits, and great mental and even physical suffering.

Treatment for Cure.-Opium consumers must cut the habit off short; no matter how terrible may be the craving, it is rarely expedient to gratify it. Total abstinence is the sure cure, as the appetite will remain if indulged in ever so little. Large doses of bromide of potassium are recommended as serviceable in counteracting the cravings experienced by the victims of this horrible vice.

CLIMATE AND HEALTH.

Time Required for Complete Change of Body.-We have noted in a previous chapter the fact that our bodies are continually wasting away, and that by food and drink they are as constantly repaired. We lose the fleshy particles of our bodies once a year, and the bones in seven years. Hence, in seven years we have possessed seven bodies of flesh and blood, and one frame of bones. We have not now a particle of flesh and bones we had seven years ago. The water we have drank, the flesh and vegetables we have eaten, being made of the component parts of our bodies, cause us to hanker and long for the same substances of which our bodies are composed. Like substances in us call for like substances without to supply the waste of the system.

The Philosophy of Acclimation Explained.-Now, suppose we suddenly change our climate from forty to thirty degrees north latitude. The air, water, fruits, vegetables, and flesh all differ. The old particles composing our bodies, and brought from forty degrees north latitude, fly off as usual. This produces hunger and thirst, and we supply our wants by the water and food of thirty degrees north latitude, and continue for weeks to do so. This creates a conflict between the old substances of our bodies and the new flesh and blood continually forming, throws the electro-nervous force out of bal ance, and engenders disease. If we live and struggle on for seven years we become acclimated, because our old flesh and bones, formed by the substances of one latitude, have disappeared, and our entire systems are made of the substances of another latitude.

Effects of Dry and Moist Climates. It is not generally known, but it is nevertheless true, that a pure, moderately-dry air generally produces great mental sprightliness, especially with full-blooded persons. A cloudy and moist atmosphere, on the other hand, produces mental relaxation, and, with many, melancholy. This explains why suicides so often happen when the sky is overcast. The depressed mental state is thus further enhanced. Villeneuve reports that of every ten suicides which were committed in Paris during two years, nine took place in the rainy season. The influence of the