TOBACCO BENEFITS. 115 



stimulation in health by tobacco or any other drug 

 is a monstrous and mischievous fallacy." 



We may therefore infer that the way in which 

 tobacco aids the digestion is just as brandy and 

 whiskey do it, — that is, by narcotizing and deaden- 

 ing the pangs of a dyspeptic stomach, only, in the 

 end, however, to make it more and more incapable 

 of its proper work. 



The most zealous defenders of tobacco admit 

 that some adults are poisoned by it. But how are 

 men to decide whether it is a blessing or a bane, 

 till they have tried it? And alas! by the time 

 they have got over the disagreeable introduction 

 and made a fair acquaintance, the spell is on them. 

 By that time they will be slow to admit that its 

 effect is injurious ; and, even if convinced of this, 

 what about breaking the spell? Has it been 

 found so easy that you can conscientiously advise 

 your adult friend, or brother, or son, to make the 

 experiment ? 



But even should it be admitted that that which 

 is disastrous to most might possibly bring to a 

 very few some small gain, the question arises, — 

 when the good proposed is so uncertain and so 

 slight, and the evils are so great, and often so fatal, 

 and when all are agreed that the habit should not 

 be formed in youth, does it pay to form it in 

 mature life? It is, unfortunately, a habit that will 

 not stand still, but rather makes perpetual 

 encroachments. If the smoker has a difficult 

 physical or mental task to perform, he seeks his 



