116 Medicinal Properties of Tobacco. 



beat, a universal tremor comes on, with slight spasms and 

 other symptoms of dissolution. As an emetic, few articles 

 can compare with it for the promptness and efficiency of its 

 operation ; at the same time there are none which produce 

 such universal debility. As a cathartic, it produces imme- 

 diate and copious evacuations, with great prostration of 

 strength ; but its dose can with difficulty be regulated. 



If such be a fair statement of its effects on the human sys- 

 tem ; if it requires all the skill of the most experienced 

 practitioner to guard against those sudden depressions which 

 uniformly follow its use, when administered with the utmost 

 circumspection ; and if, with all this caution, its operation is 

 still followed by the most alarming, and even fatal conse- 

 quences — what shall we say of those who habitually subject 

 their constitutions to the destructive influence of this worse 

 than ' Bohan Upas?' 



To an individual unacquainted with the fact, it would 

 seem incredible that a weed, possessed of properties so poi- 

 sonous, should ever have been sought as an article of luxury. 

 Yet it has not only been sought, but even credulity startles 

 at the extent to which it has been used. ' Like opium it 

 calms the agitations of our corporeal frame, and soothes the 

 anxieties and distresses of the mind.' Its powers are felt and 

 its fascinations acknowledged, by all the intermediate grades 

 of society, from the sot who wallows in the mire of your 

 streets, to the clergyman who stands forth a pattern of moral 

 excellence, and who ministers at the altar of God. For it the 

 Arab will traverse, unwearied, his burning deserts ; and the 

 Icelander risk his life amidst perpetual snows. Its charms 

 are experienced alike, by the savage who roams the wilds of 

 an American forest, and the courtier who rolls in luxury and 

 prescribes rules of refinement to the civilized world ; by the 

 miscreant who wrings from the cold hand of charity the pit- 

 tance that sustains his life, and the monarch who sways his 

 sceptre over half the globe ; by him who is bent with woes 

 and years, and him whose cheek is covered yet with boyhood's 

 down. Hence we might conclude it capable of giving strength 

 to the weary, vivacity to the stupid, and wisdom to men void 

 of understanding ; capable of soothing the sorrows of the 

 atTlicted, of healing the wounds of the spirit, and assuaging 

 the anguish of a broken heart. But how it fulfils these 

 desirable indications, will be our next business to inquire. 



Tobacco, as a luxury, has been used for the last two centu- 

 ries over all the civilized, and the greater portion of the un- 

 civilized world. The modes have been snuffing, smoking 



