MEDICINAL ACTION. 147 



Cancer on the lip has been ascribed to the 

 habit of smoking ; but it should be remembered 

 that Sir A. Cooper attributes most of the cases 

 of cancer of the lip that fell under his care to 

 the use of the tobacco-pipes^ from the adhesive 

 nature of the clay with which they are made ! 

 The part of the pipe which rests upon the lip 

 should therefore have a wax or ivory coating.* 

 I may be permitted to be very doubtful of the 

 alleged cause altogether. It seems to have 

 been suggested by the fact that Hp-cancer pre- 

 dominates greatly in men ; but if it occurs at all 

 in women, or in men who do not smoke, perhaps 

 we are justified in requiring more scientific con- 

 nection between cause and effect than appears in 

 the circumstances. When I smoked a pipe ray 

 lips, tongue, and mouth were frequently ex- 

 coriated, and I have known others in the same 

 condition, but a single night's rest was suffici^t 

 to repair the damage. 



Sugar and water or a few lumps of sugar 



Jennings, ' Treatise on Tobaaco' p. 64 : — 

 "Her blubber'd lip by smutty pipes is icom." 



— Gay, Shepherdts Week. 



L 2 



