164 TOBACCO : ITS HISTORY. 



national peculiarities which distinguish the most 

 inveterate consumers of tobacco, we must guard 

 ourselves from the fallacy of substituting the 

 effect for the cause. Individual life must always 

 be the starting-point from which we must infer 

 the life (►f nations. If a man has household 

 affliction of some sort — a " skeleton in the family" 

 — and " takes to drink," — did the drink cause the 

 affliction, or make his skeleton ? In truth, if the 

 battle of life be to man continuous and deter- 

 mined in his physical economy, it is not less so 

 in his mind — hopes, fears, troubles, and anxieties. 

 These he strives to resist, to fight, to overcome 

 any how, in his desperation. You may quarrel, 

 if you like, with the cause^ but you had better 

 try and alleviate its effects, rather than denounce 

 intemperately even his temperate use of the 

 means which he has found conducive to his ease, 

 comfort, and consolation. 



In conclusion, to inveterate smokers I say, 

 Tobacco is a phreno-aisthenic agent, and by its 

 use you charge the batteries of your nervous sys- 

 tem. You must, therefore, either intellectually or 

 bodily, w^ork off the subtle electric fluid. With- 



