Medicinal Properties of Tobacco. 121 



in the commencement of the practice, as has been already 

 shown. In this mode, too, its nauseous taste and stimulant 

 property excite and keep up a profuse discharge from the mu- 

 cous follicles and salivary glands. Probably to this circum- 

 stance alone, is owing the superior efficacy of this mode of 

 using this drug in the cure of toothache. But whether this 

 enormous waste of the secretions of the mouth and fauces 

 can be borne by the constitution with impunity, you. Gentle 

 men, are abundantly competent to judge. Physiologists 

 agree that these secretions are intended to assist in preparing 

 the aliments for deglutition, by rendering them sufficiently 

 fluid, and afterwards, by their peculiar properties, to promote 

 digestion and assimilation. The great increase of these just 

 before and after eating, and the large quantities swallowed 

 about that time, are unequivocal evidence of their importance 

 to the digestive economy. Then what must be the state of 

 that man's digestion, who, until seated at table, keeps his quid 

 in his mouth, and immediately returns it thither after rising 

 from his meal ? And when we reflect, that large quantities 

 of saliva strongly impregnated with this poison, and even par- 

 ticles of the substance itself, are frequently swallowed, what, 

 again I ask, is the probable condition of such a person's di- 

 gestive organs ? 



I know it may be said in reply, that such persons often 

 consume large quantities of food, u'ithout experiencing any 

 perceptible inconvenience ; and I also know that they are 

 often emaciated, notwithstanding the enormous portion of ali- 

 ment they daily consume. Under these circumstances, the 

 emaciation arises, either from the profuse discharge of saliva, 

 or an imperfect digestion, or the combined influence of both. 

 Hence, when a man of a corpulent habit, with a keen appetite, 

 who is unwilling: to forego his wine and to use moderation in 

 his roast beef, applies for professional advice to prevent cor- 

 pulence, medical men very naturally and philosophically di- 

 rect him, if he persists in excess, to the use of tobacco, as a 

 temporary relief against the direful effects of his gluttony and 

 intemperance. 



A clergyman of high standing informed me, that he ac- 

 quired the habit of using tobacco in college, and had continu- 

 ed the practice for a number of years ; but he found, by ex- 

 perience, his health materially impaired, being often affected 

 with sickness, lassitude and faintness. His muscles also be- 

 came ffabby and lost their tone, and his speaking was seriously 

 interupted by an elongation of the uvula. His brother, an 

 intelligent physician, advised the discontinuance of his to- 

 bacco. He laid it aside. Nature, freed from its depressing 

 16 



