312 The Soverane Herbe 



that he can't be a very upright judge. Maybe the 

 truth is that one pipe is wholesome, two pipes tooth- 

 some, three pipes noisome, four pipes fulsome, five 

 pipes quarrelsome, and that's the sum on't. But that 

 is deciding upon rhyme rather than reason. After all, 

 our instincts may be best.' 



It is on medical grounds that smoking is frequently 

 objected to. There is probably no secular subject 

 which has been the theme of such heated and lengthy 

 argument as has been smoking. At first praised by 

 doctors, then reviled, smoking is now adjudged by 

 the faculty to be more beneficial than harmful. 



Dr. Jonathan Pereira declared : ' I am not acquainted 

 with any well-ascertained ill-effects resulting from 

 the habitual practice of smoking.' 



Sir Robert Christison said : ' In many individuals 

 who use it habitually the smoke has an extraordinary 

 power in removing exhaustion, listlessness, and rest- 

 lessness, especially when brought on by bodily and 

 mental fatigue, and this property is the basis of its 

 general use as an article of luxury.' 



Sir Benjamin Brodie drew a lurid and gloomy 

 picture of the evils consequent on smoking to excess, 

 but he admitted that ' if tobacco-smokers would limit 

 themselves to the occasional indulgence of their 

 appetites they would do little harm to themselves and 

 others.' Like tea, coffee, and stimulants, he regarded 

 the human taste for tobacco as almost an instinct. 



Dr. Sir B. W. Richardson, after minutely analyzing 

 the symptoms and diseases caused by smoking, and 

 condemning it by no means gently, concluded that 

 * its moderate use prevents waste and soothes the 



