THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 125 



completely prostrated. It was only after repeated trials, and 

 when he had got the system accustomed to it, that he could 

 take his smoke with comfort. 



While it is possible to train the system to tolerate the 

 poison to such an extent as not to cause any immediate 

 prostration, there is hardly a smoker who does not feel at 

 times a certain amount of nervous depression. It may be 

 a slight trembling of the muscles, causing the hands to be 

 unsteady, or it may be a weak, trembling action of the heart, 

 with a very rapid pulse, sometimes irregular. This action 

 of tobacco on the heart has become so noticeable as to be 

 known by the medical profession as " the tobacco heart." 

 Then again he may suffer from a form of nervous dyspepsia, 

 with nausea and loss of appetite, or a general irritability of 

 the nervous system, with headaches, weakened memory, im- 

 paired vitality, and loss of flesh. 



It makes little difference in what form tobacco is taken; 

 whether in smoking a pipe, cigar or cigarette, taking it in the 

 form of snuff, or chewing tobacco, the nicotine is absorbed, 

 and it is only a question of the amount in each case. It is 

 true some forms are more cleanly and less offensive to our 

 friends than others, but in any form it is injurious, and is at 

 best a selfish and a filthy habit. 



21. Evil Effects of Tobacco on the Young. Tobacco 

 has a more profound effect upon the nerves of a young lad 

 than on a grown person, because his nervous system is more 

 sensitive and more easily impressed. It is a hundredfold 

 more injurious in youth. It weakens the system and tends 

 to impair muscular and mental activity. The whole body is 

 saturated with a poison, and cannot grow and develop as 

 it should. The use of tobacco in any form by young persons 

 should be severely condemned. Self-preservation is the first 

 law of nature. Let us protect ourselves against this enemy 

 by shunning it altogether. 



