TOBACCO IN RELATION TO HEALTH 59 



measure the use of wine, which, to say the least, is very in- 

 jurious to the health of the inhabitants of hot climates. . . 

 It may further be remarked in the way of apology for the 

 pipe, as employed by the Turks and Arabs, that the mild kinds 

 of tobacco generally used by them have a gentle effect ; they 

 calm the nervous system, and, instead of stupefying, sharpen 

 the intellect. 



He next pays a high tribute to the Oriental method of 

 smoking, and assures the reader that the pleasures of 

 Eastern society are considerably enhanced by the use of 

 the pipe, adding . ' It affords the peasant, too, a cheap 

 and sober refreshment, and probably often restrains him 

 from less innocent indulgences.' Mr. Layard and Mr. 

 Crawfurd, whose large experience of Eastern peoples is 

 known to the world, have each recorded his opinion to the 

 effect that the use of tobacco has contributed very much 

 towards the present sobriety of Asiatics. The presence of 

 an array of witnesses such as these to the power of the pipe 

 to subdue the savage breast naturally suggests the thought 

 of a new field of operations for its use. That laudable 

 organisation, the Peace Society, which seeks to combat 

 man's militant instincts by such persuasions as fall short of 

 the shillelagh, ought certainly to find in the Indian's peace- 

 pipe with a well-filled tobacco-pouch a coadjutor for the 

 propagation of its amiable doctrines ; at any rate, a pioneer 

 that would prepare the soil for the seed and the advent of 

 the millennium. Lord Clarendon, when Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs, used to excuse his room reeking with the 

 fumes of tobacco by declaring that diplomacy itself was a 

 mere question of the judicious application of tobacco 

 between opposing plenipotentiaries. The pipe, indeed, 

 has always been recognised as a good diplomatist. If you 

 want time to consider well before committing yourself to an 



