3o6 The Soverane Herbe 



Another expert, however, declares that * chewing, 

 though perhaps a dirty habit, is far more healthy than 

 smoking.' Yet another doctor, none other than Sir 

 Henry Thompson, claims cigarettes to be the least 

 injurious, provided good paper be used, as there is no 

 collection of the essential nicotian oils as in cigars 

 and pipes. In a pipe the oil is said to be volatilized 

 and inhaled, whereas such is not the case in the cigar- 

 ette. Though excessive consumption of cigarettes 

 may affect the optic nerve and cause dimness of sight, 

 the injury, we are told, is nothing compared with the 

 danger that may be wrought by a single pipe. The 

 cigarette-smoker escapes because his stomach gives 

 out before his nerves are in the least danger. In 

 short, it is declared that there is more possibility of 

 harm in one pipeful of shag than in a hundred mild 

 cigarettes. But some years ago the Lancet wrote : 



* We have not a word to say against smoking at 

 suitable times and in moderation, nor do our remarks 

 apply at this moment to the use of cigars and pipes ; 

 it is against the habit of smoking cigarettes in large 

 quantities, with the belief that these miniature doses 

 of nicotine are innocuous, we desire to enter a protest. 

 The truth is that perhaps owing to the way the 

 tobacco-leaf is shredded, coupled with the fact that 

 it is brought into more direct relationship with the 

 mouth and air-passages than when it is smoked in a 

 pipe or cigar, the effects produced on the nervous 

 system are more marked and characteristic than those 

 recognisable after recourse to the other modes of 

 smoking.' 



All doctors recommend that smoke should be kept 



