NICOTIANA TABACUM. 
199 
have invariably found tobacco the most effectual thing for banishing 
and destroying moths and other insects, and if furniture in which 
bugs are lodged is sprinkled with snuflF, or some of the leaves 
strewed about, they will soon disappear ; indeed, it has always ap- 
peared to us, that tobacco is much more fatal to animals than to 
man, and that it is the latter alone who, by force of habit, can 
habituate his constitution to use it with impunity. 
From his own experiments Orfila draws the following conclu- 
sions: — 1st, That tobacco, whether whole or reduced to powder, 
is endued with energetic poisonous properties; 2nd. That its active 
part resides in that portion which is soluble in water, and that it is 
absorbed and carried into the circulation ; 3rd. That its deleterious 
effects appear to depend on an especiat action upon the nervous 
system; and that it produces a general tremor, which is seldom 
observed when other poisons are taken ; 4(h. That it is much more 
active when injected into the anus than when it is applied to the 
cellular texture, or introduced into the stomach; 5th. That besides 
its other phenomena, it is capable of producing an inflammation 
more or less violent ; Gth. That the empyreumatic oil does not act 
directly on the brain, or trunks of the nerves, but that it directs its 
action to the nervous system in a manner not easy to determine. 
Mr. Brodie was formerly of opinion that the infusion of tobacco, 
when injected into the rectum, acted primarily on the heart, by 
being carried into the circulation; but after some very satisfactory 
experiments he relinquished this belief, and agreed with Orfila, 
that its action on the heart is through the medium of the nervous 
system. 
To us it has always appeared that tobacco was endued with two dis- 
tinct principles, an acrid and a narcotic principle, and that it would 
affect the system in one way or the other, according to the manner 
of its application ; it is likewise worthy of remark, that the use of 
tobacco in one way will not habituate the system to the use of it 
in another; the greatest smoker would not be able to chew tobacco 
without nausea, vertigo, and other distressing symptoms being 
produced; and vice versa, a pinch of snuff will frequently produce 
giddiness in persons accustomed to smoke all their lives ; but habit 
can never reconcile the constitution to the reception of tobacco into 
the stomach. 
In case of tobacco being taken into the stomach, the treatment 
should be the same as in the case of opium or other powerful nar- 
cotics; active emetics, friction, &c. should be speedily resorted to. 
