THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



239 



322. Effect of Tobacco upon the Nervous System. The 

 cells of the brain may become poisoned from tobacco. The 

 ideas may lack clearness of outline. The will power may 

 be weakened, and it may be an effort to do the routine 

 duties of life. The old tobacco 



user is often cross, irritable, and 

 liable to outbursts of passion. The 

 memory may also be impaired. 



The narcotic principle, the deadly 

 nicotine, has retarded the nutrition 

 of the delicate nerve cells. The 

 nerve centers are no longer able to 

 hoard up their usual amount of vital 

 energy. Hence arise the many and 

 various nervous symptoms due to the 

 poisonous effect of tobacco. Many 

 men in mature life, especially those 

 engaged in sedentary occupations, 

 suffer from nervous breakdown in 

 consequence of the habitual use of 

 this noxious weed. 



323. Smoking Cigarettes. The 

 smoking of cigarettes cannot be too FlG 

 severely condemned. They are often 

 made of the cheapest materials, and 

 sometimes " doctored" with refuse 

 substances, and even forms of opium, 



in order to give some bulk and "tone" to the originally 

 cheap material. Cigarettes are so common and so cheap 

 that their use by thousands of young persons has become a 

 serious matter. The laws of many states very properly for- 

 bid the sale of tobacco, especially of cigarettes, to minors. 



A Great Nerve 

 (Posterior Tibial) on the 

 Back of the Leg, with its 

 Accompanying Artery of 

 the Same Name. 



