COMMUNICATIONS AND EXTRACTS. 101 



facility is afforded for connecting the physiological effecta 

 with their exciting cause — tobacco! 



" If such be the consequences of excessive and coii" 

 tinned doses of narcotine, can we suppose that no mis- 

 chief will accrue to the children of this country who are 

 to be daily seen recklessly enjoying the pipe or the cigar i 

 I fear a healthy nutrition is incompatible with the pro 

 ceeding, and think, with Mr. Solly, that the future hap 

 piness of the people of England may be jeopardized by 

 a practice, which intercourse with our continental neigh- 

 bors has rendered so popular/^ 



115. Mr. M'Donald, Surgeon to the Garnkirk and 

 Heathfield works, says : 



" Having paid some attention to the effects of tobacco- 

 smoking on th-e system, I have noted down a few obser- 

 vations made over a wide field. 



" Sailors and navvies smoke more than any other 

 class. The sailor uses from 8 oz. to 16 oz. of tobacco 

 per month; the navvy, 8 oz. or 10 oz.; but part of this 

 is chewed. Bad taste in the mouth, with sometimes an 

 angry, irritable point on the tongue, lips, or fauces, 

 which prevents him from smoking for a few days, are 

 the only bad results I have observed. It does not ap- 

 pear to affect the nervous system of either of these 

 classes. The miner uses above 8 oz. per month. Often 

 breathing an impure air, the tone of his system is low- 

 ered, and then tobacco exerts its baneful influence on 

 him. He is subject to dyspeptic, bilious, and nervous 

 attacks, while those who do not smoke are invariably the 

 healthiest. 



<' Now, let the sailor or navvy take to sedentary em- 



