68 ST NICOTINE 



arried to excess. These are such as all young smokers 

 cexperience more or less severely, according to their 

 temperament and the quality or strength of the tobacco 

 they use. There can be no question that the first attempt 

 at smoking reveals phenomena which plainly show that to 

 become one of the initiated in the service of Nicotina a 

 certain ordeal must be passed through if the novice would 

 rank among her votaries. It may be of use to remark that 

 the stronger kinds of tobacco are the products of the 

 Virginian and Kentucky plantations ; French tobacco too is 

 quite as strong, they contain from six to eight per cent, of 

 nicotine ; Maryland and Havanna tobaccos, also those of 

 the Levant, generally average two per cent., while the 

 products of Sumatra and China barely contain one per 

 cent, of nicotine. The general conclusion Sir Benjamin 

 Richardson deduces from his experiments is such as might 

 be fairly expected from an eminent physician of large 

 experience, unbiassed by prejudice. In this judicial sense 

 he remarks that tobacco ' is innocuous as compared with 

 alcohol ; it does infinitely less harm than opium, it is in no 

 sense worse than tea, and by the side of high living 

 altogether it compares most favourably.' But on the 

 question of youths smoking he speaks most decisively 

 against even the smallest indulgence in tobacco before the 

 system is matured. His words are : ' With boys the 

 habit is as injurious and wrong as it is disgusting. The 

 early "piper" loses his growth, becomes hoarse, effete, 

 lazy, and stunted.' 



The late Professor Johnston, of Durham, gave his 

 attention to the subject, and in the eminently useful work 

 on the Chemistry of Common Life he minutely describes 

 the results he obtained from a careful analysis of tobacco 

 leaves. These in all essential particulars are such as have 



