PHYSICAL AND INTELLECTUAL VIEW. 41 



tellects, well cultivated, full of vitality, and striv- 

 ing with enthusiasm towards the heights of human 

 knowledge, withered in the barrenness of narcot- 

 ism, and sinking into premature death." 



Wrote President Nott of Union College : " The 

 lives of some and the health of many have been 

 destroyed by persisting, in despite of counsels, in 

 the use of this poisonous narcotic, which, next to 

 intoxicating liquors, is, in my opinion, more de- 

 structive to the health of the youth in our country 

 than any other agent." 



A prominent physician testifies : " I never ob- 

 served such pallid faces and so many marks of 

 declining health, nor ever knew so many hectical 

 habits and consumptive affections as of late years ; 

 and I trace this alarming inroad on young consti- 

 tutions principally to the pernicious custom of 

 smoking cigars." 



Even the organ of the tobacco trade is forced 

 to admit that " few things could be more pernicious 

 for boys, growing youths, and persons of unformed 

 constitution than the use of tobacco in any of its 

 forms," — a truly significant confession. 



In Germany the mischief done to growing boys 

 has been found so £i*eat that the government has 

 ordered the police to forbid lads under sixteen 

 from smoking in the street. The Swiss canton of 

 Schaffhausen has also issued a law prohibiting boys 

 under fifteen from using tobacco, either on the 

 streets or at home. On our streets we behold a 

 vast and ever-increasing number of young Ameri- 



