ANTI-TOBACCO. 



13 



ous effect on tobacco operatives. The first results are 

 headache, nausea, languor, loss of appetite, and sleepless- 

 ness, followed by a general disturbance of the health. 

 Melsens, the chemist, said that he had collected 30 

 grammes of nicotine from 4.500 grammes of tobacco 

 smoke, which he conveyed through water. 



2. Nicotianine, the second poisonous component of 

 tobacco, is a fatty substance, having an aromatic and 

 somewhat bitter taste, and is probably the principle which 

 gives the article its strong odor. The "Dispensatory" 

 says : " It produces sneezing when applied to the nostrils, 

 and a grain of it, swallowed by Hermstadt, occasioned gid- 

 diness and nausea." The "New American Cyclopedia" 

 says : " When taken internally, it gives rise to giddiness, 

 nausea, and an inclination to vomit." The "Scientific 

 American " speaks of tobacco-camphor, or nicotianine, as 

 " a substance about which not much is known, — a bitter 

 extractive matter." 



3. Empyreiimatic oil is the third substance which is 

 produced during the burning of the tobacco in the pipe. 

 This is one of the most active poisons known to chemis- 

 try. Sir Benjamin Brodie (" London Lancet ") says : " The 

 empyreumatic oil of tobacco is produced by distillation 

 of that herb at a temperature above that of boiling water. 

 One or two drops of this oil (according to the size of the 

 animal), placed on the tongue, will kill a cat in the course 

 of a few minutes ; A certain quantity of this oil must 

 always be circulating in the blood of an habitual smoker, 

 and we cannot suppose that the effects of it on the system 

 can be merely negative." "A single drop," says the same 

 authority, " injected into the rectum of a cat, occasioned 

 death in about five minutes; and double the quantity. 



