86 tobacco: its use and abuse. 



years old, but have been surprised that they had even 

 tually lost all inclination for sexual indulgenc(3. On in« 

 terrogating them, I have invariably found that they were 

 all excessive smokers ; and on convincing them that to- 

 b^co was the cause of their temporary impotence, they 

 have instantly " thrown away tobacco forever" and in a 

 few months after have returned to me, saying that they 

 had become fathers again. I have found unmarried men 

 similarly affected with the want of the sexual vis et 

 animus. 



35. I have invariably found, that patients addicted to 

 tobacco smoking were in spirit cowardly, and deficient 

 in manly fortitude to undergo any surgical operation, 

 however trifling, proposed to relieve them from the suf- 

 fering of other complaints. In such cases chloroform is 

 a great boon. 



86. When we consider the effect of tobacco in tetanus, 

 and in strangulated hernia in former days, we can read- 

 ily comprehend its powerful narcotic effects : they are 

 stronger than opium — opium differing from tobacco only 

 in constipating the bowels. The use of tobacco for me- 

 dical purposes has been long known, but its application 

 has been carried, fundamentally^ of late, to the full ex- 

 tent to which the human body can be subjected — a cigar 

 having been actually inserted into the anus, by an Ame- 

 rican physician, as a medical reagent — thus introducing 

 the poison into every vital passage. 



37. The number of people who from twelve years of 

 age are given to smoking, snuffing, plugging, and chew- 

 ing, or quidding the Jioxious weed, appears quite incre- 

 dible By its so general consumption, we must become 



