82 tobacco: its use and abuse. 



four campaigns and nine general actions, and experienced 

 all the vicissitudes of an Indian climate, from the snowy 

 mountains of the Khyber to the tepid marshes of Burmah^ 

 makes the following valuable observations in his "Advice 

 to Officers in India" : 



"Tobacco smoking/' says he, "is a very common 

 habit; so much so, that two-thirds of the European popu- 

 lation indulge in it; nor is the vice contracted in India 

 only. A large proportion of cadets acquire the habit in 

 England, and are not a little proud of their accomplish- 

 ment. Young men think it manly to blow as big a 

 cloud as their commanding officer. Their breath not 

 only smells of an old pipe, but every thing that comes 

 out of their house — a book, a newspaper, or a letter — 

 does the same; so that the perusal, by any one not sea- 

 soned to such fumes, is sickening; and to ladies, dis- 

 gusting. The very difficulty of learning to 'smoke, the 

 headache, and nausea, and vertigo, with which that is 

 acquired, are enough to show that the habit is most 

 injurious; only made endurable by long habit, and per- 

 severed in from want of some more congenial occupation. 

 Habitual smoking, too, often leads to habitual drinking ; 

 the drain upon the system must be replenished, and 

 brandy and water is the succedaneum. ^ome pretend to 

 gainsay this, and maintain that they do not spit; but this 

 only shows the torpor of the salivary glands; for, if they 

 were in a healthy state, saliva would be as copious as 

 when they were learning the habit. 



105. Some smoke from medicinal motives, and to 

 produce a laxative ejQfect, or from absurd notions that it 

 neutralizes malaria; but these same persons would 



