COMMUNICATIONS AND EXTRACTS. 113 



here, that they vary according to the quantity of to- 

 bacco smoked, and according to the pathological condi- 

 tions and peculiarities of the individual himself. Some 

 persons will smoke a very large quantity before certain 

 symptoms arise, while others experience these with a 

 very small quantity. The amount consumed by habitual 

 smokers varies from half an ounce to twelve ounces per 

 week. The usual quantity is from two to three ounces. 

 Inveterate cigar smokers will consume from four to five 

 dozen per week of the lighter kind of cigars, as Manil- 

 las, Bengal cheroots, etc. 



'' The first and simplest morbid result of excessive 

 smoking, is an inflammatory condition of the mucous 

 membrane of the lip and tongue, and this sometimes 

 ends in a separation of the epithelium. Then the ton- 

 sils and pharynx suffer, the mucous membrane becoming 

 dry and congested. If the throat be examined, it will 

 be observed to be slightly swollen, with congested veins 

 meandering over the surface, and here and there a streak 

 of mucus. Tfie inflammatory action also extends up- 

 wards into the posterior nares, and the smoker feels from 

 time to time a discharge of mucus from the upper part 

 of the pharynx, in consequence of the secretion from 

 the mucous membrane of the nares collecting within 

 them. Sometimes the anterior nares suffer, but in this 

 case the irritation is not marked by increased secretion 

 so much as by tickling and itching within them. The 

 irritation will also extend to the conjunctiva (and I am 

 inclined to think from the nares, and not by the direct 

 application of smoke to the eye), and the results are, 

 heat, slight redness, lachrymation, and a peculiar spas- 

 H 



