GENERAL CHARACTERIST.CS. 19 



not appear to me to be at all clear, that the former has 

 any advantage over the latter in other respects; for 

 while the smoker's account must be debited with the 

 topical diseases, chiefly carcinomatous, from which the 

 chewer is to a great extent free, he consumes a far 

 greater portion of the weed than his competing debau- 

 chee — a surplus so great, j[n the confirmed cigar smoker, 

 that we are often called upon for a surprise at the num- 

 ber of these small rolls which constitute his daily supply. 

 7. Turning to the main part of our subject, the phy- 

 siological effects, we find that, in the carnivora, tobacco 

 shows its power in a very striking manner, causing vo- 

 miting, purging, universal trembling, staggering, con- 

 vulsions, and stupor. Physiologists are not at one in 

 regard to the peculiar mode of action ; the nerves are 

 probably the principal medium; but the many instances 

 we have on record, of death produced by an application 

 of small quantities to wounds, would indicate that the 

 process is more complex. There is an ingenious expe- 

 riment reported, where the effect of tobacco was noticed 

 in an animal whose head was cut off, and artificial respi- 

 ration kept up. The tobacco did not, as in the ordinary 

 case, paralyse the heart ; and the conclusion is accord- 

 ingly drawn, that it is through the medium of the brain 

 that the death action is exercised on that organ. But 

 the whole of this question is rendered dubious or diffi- 

 cult by other facts. For instance, there is a difference 

 of action between the alkaloid and the oil ; the latter 

 of which is said not to possess the power of paralyzing 

 the heart. Applied to the tongue of a cat, one drop of 

 the oil caused convulsions; and in two minuter death, 



