TOBACCO AND ITS EFFECTS. 95 



proper indulgence to manhood and a solace to old age," 

 the present enormous consumption will very soon be 

 diminished greatly, and will in all probability never again 

 be reached. 



As illustrating the effect of tobacco, everi upon an 

 individual habituated to its use, the following experiment, 

 which may easily be repeated by any physician at almost 

 any time, has interest. A young man aged twenty-four, of 

 full habit and accustomed to smoking, was selected and 

 kept perfectly quiet in a sitting position until his pulse 

 was entirely regular at 75.5 per minute, a rate which it 

 maintained steadily, thus indicating the freedom of the 

 subject from all excitement. When this condition was 

 reached he was given a pipe to smoke, all else remaining 

 as before ; during the first five minutes of smoking, the 

 only perceptible effect was an increased fulness and 

 firmness of the pulse, the rate remaining as above ; in 

 the course of the succeeding sixteen minutes the rate 

 increased, being when noted, 87, 89, 95, 98, 103, 104, 

 105, 105, 107, 108, III ; an increase of temperature was 

 also noted, ending in perceptible perspiration. Smoking 

 was now stopped, the individual still remaining quiescent ; ' 

 the pulse continued to increase in frequency slightly for 

 one minute longer, rising to 112, when it began to 

 dechne ; at the end of thirty minutes it was 89, and had 

 not reached its normal rate of 75.5 at the end of two 

 hours. It is hoped that others will repeat this simple 

 experiment and record the results obtained ; it may be 

 varied, moreover, in ways that will readily suggest them- 

 selves to any intelligent observer ; and, being thus repeated 

 and varied, an amount of information now wholly lacking 

 can hardly fail to be obtamed and rendered available for 

 future use. 



