1865.] Pamphlet. 353 



small portion of free carbon, ammonia, carbonic acid, and a peculiar 

 compound oily product, consisting of a fluid alkaloidal body (nico- 

 tine), a volatile substance, and a dark resinous extract. Of tbese, 

 nicotine is the last to exert any effect upon the smoker. The first 

 impression of tobacco smoking is made upon tbe blood, wbich rapidly 

 circulating, conveys it to tbe more vascular organs, and tbe stomach 

 is the first to give indication of suffering, and there under ordinary 

 circumstances the matter ends. If, however, it be continued beyond 

 that point, the brain and nervous system next become affected ; and, 

 pushed farther, death ensues from arrest of the beating of the heart. 

 Tobacco, however, is not a narcotic, nor has it any of the seducing 

 effects of a narcotic at its first trial, but becomes milder as it grows 

 more familiar, a tolerance being set up such as is the case with many 

 other poisonous substances, as antimony, &c. The products of to- 

 bacco find a ready exit from the system, by the lungs, skin, and kid- 

 neys. Hence the ammoniacal breath of every heavy smoker, and the 

 smell of the clothes, partly due to the vapour which is exhaled through 

 the skin, while the nicotine and bitter extract are carried out entirely 

 by the kidneys. The effects, therefore, are transitory, and the in- 

 fluences exerted are functional, not organic. 



What, then, is the nature of these transitory functional disturbances 

 of the blood, stomach, heart, nervous system, and glands of the throat 

 and mouth '? This subject next engages the author. He finds the 

 blood thinner than natural, and in extreme cases, paler ; the corpuscles 

 lose their round shape and become oval and irregular, but rapidly re- 

 cover their normal condition when the cause is removed, while free 

 imbibition of fluid, during prolonged smoking, increases these de- 

 rangements. Upon the stomach, the effect is to impair appetite by 

 diminishing the oxidation of the body, and so preventing waste. The 

 mucous membrane and the muscular layer are both affected, the former 

 by the bitter extract, the latter by the nicotine. These substances 

 both travel along the stem of the pipe, and are absorbed directly into 

 the mouth, so that while a long, perfectly clean clay pipe, which 

 easily absorbs them, may be smoked with impunity, only the confirmed 

 smoker can tolerate the black, dirty bowl and stem, and in proportion 

 as the toleration is borne, the digestion is sacrificed. So, also, some 

 tobaccos, as cavendish, pigtail, and shag, yield these products much 

 more abundantly than Latakia or Turkish, &c. ; while cigars, if they 

 are " good," produce dyspepsia very quickly ; for in smoking them, 

 unless a long mouthpiece be used, nicotine is inevitably absorbed. 

 With regard to the heart, there is no evidence to show that tobacco 

 causes any structural change, but Dr. Eichardson is of opinion that in 

 persons strongly disposed to rheumatism or gout, tobacco is rather 

 a preventive of structural change, and also that in persons subjected to 

 an unnatural degree of muscular exercise, a pipe daily is beneficial 

 rather than otherwise. Moreover, tobacco has a tendency to counteract 

 the serious organic diseases dependent upon the acid modifications of 

 the blood due to excessive imbibition of alcohol. 



The effects produced upon the eye appear to be dilatation of the 

 pupil, and in extreme cases amaurosis, due to the absorption of 



