THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS 



might be applied to tea and coffee; though of course 

 these solacers differ from alcohol in that their abuse 

 does not lead to such depths of disaster; albeit their 

 effects on the system are more harmful than are some- 

 times supposed. Tobacco occupies an intermediate 

 position: its effects are more pronounced than those 

 of tea or coffee, and less pronounced than those of 

 alcohol. Its poisonous principle is one to which the 

 system must be gradually accustomed before it can be 

 taken with even apparent impunity. On the system 

 not thus partly immunized, even a small quantity of 

 nicotine acts as a virulent poison. 



Yet of course it is a matter of every-day knowledge 

 that hundreds of thousands of individuals use tobacco 

 habitually and live to a green old age, seemingly 

 none the worse for the habit. Nor should we forget 

 the large modicum of pleasure that is to be credited 

 to the weed. Nevertheless, I venture to predict that 

 ten out of twelve of your friends who use tobacco 

 will admit, if you question them, that they believe they 

 would be better off without it. Most of them will ad- 

 mit that on occasion they have " sworn off," only to 

 begin again under stress of the old temptation. No 

 one of them, I think, will assert that tobacco benefits 

 his physical system. 



In a word, then, most users of tobacco must admit 

 themselves virtually slaves to a habit which they re- 

 gard as deleterious. Most smokers prefer that their 

 sons should not smoke, and keep tobacco from them 

 as long as they can; a fact which in itself constitutes 

 a serious indictment of the weed. Yet so imitative 



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