COMMUNICATIONS AND EXTRACTS. 117 



known to follow the frequent use of tobacco in smoking. 

 I believe it to be a great antagonist of the functions of 

 the nervous system, especially in its relations to the 

 organs of sense, of reproduction, and of digestion. I 

 think I have known it to produce perfect atony, with all 

 its train of consequences. I have known many instances 

 in which I was unable to prove that the ordinary use 

 of tobacco did any harm; I have known many more in 

 which I could prove that it did do harm ; and I have 

 not known any good from it that might not have been 

 obtained from less objectionable means. 



"It will be seen that Dr. Wright corroborates my ob- 

 servations in several particulars; and although I am not 

 at all desirous that this communication should be consi- 

 dered as a ^ counter-blaste ' to tobacco, I think the inve- 

 terate habit of smoking, snuffing, or chewing that drug, 

 is worthy the special notice of physicians and practi- 

 tioners in medicine in general, as a very frequent but 

 unconsidered and unthought-of cause of disease. I am 

 quite certain, indeed, that if the practitioner habitually 

 direct his attention to the subject, he will find that many 

 obstinate and difficult cases may be elucidated, by apply- 

 ing and extending the views detailed as well by Dr. 

 Wright as myself. 



" Gastric disorders, coughs, and inflammatory affec- 

 tions of the larynx and the pharynx, haemoptoe, diseases 

 of the heart, and lowness of sprits, are the principal dis- 

 eases in which the pathological results of the habit are 

 to be looked for. The color of the teeth, a pearly blue- 

 ness of the lips, a slight trembling of the hands, and a 

 quiet, passive expression of countenance, are the most 



