THE TOBACCO QUESTION. 
217 
writers attribute to c the weed/ The evils of tobacco have 
been collated from the printed letters, and are arranged 
simply according to the part in which the affection is pro- 
duced, as mental, nervous, and respiratory system, and 
so on. 
“ Tobacco is said to act on the mind by producing inactivity 
thereof; inability to think ; drowsiness; irritability; a peculiar 
condition — witness the frivolities, the light, undignified read- 
ing of the present day ; an alarming passion for fraudulently 
obtaining and squandering money; a propensity to the in- 
dulgence of vicious habits ; languor ; loss of memory and of 
energy; hypochondriasis; hysteria ; insanity ; mania; suicidal 
mania; irritable temper. 
“It renders the nervous system prone to — softening of the 
brain ; apoplexy ; paralysis ; delirium tremens ; paralysis 
agitans ; amaurosis ; giddiness ; neuralgia ; depravation of all 
the senses ; loss of taste, smell ; impairment of vision ; it pro- 
duces impotency, both moral and physical. 
“ On the respiratory organs it acts by causing consumption ; 
haemoptysis ; an inflammatory condition of the mucous mem- 
brane of the larynx, trachea, and bronchiae ; ulceration of the 
larynx ; short, irritable cough : hurried breathing. 
“ The circulating organs are affected by irritable heart-action; 
irregular, intermittent pulse; accelerated circulation. 
“ The digestive organs are attacked by gastric irritation; rup- 
ture of intestine ; horrible dyspepsia; irritable sensation after 
food ; loss of secretory power of liver ; heartburn ; acidity ; 
flatulence; proneness to dysentery. 
“ On the generative system tobacco is accused of producing 
the following effects : first stimulating the generative system, 
then diminishing desire, and annihilating the reproductive 
faculty; of frequently causing spermatorrhoea and impotence; 
that the children of habitual smokers are afflicted with ener- 
vation ; hypochondriasis; hysteria; insanity; dwarfish de- 
formities ; consumption ; painful lives ; and early deaths. 
*' c On the blood and general system it acts by so infecting the 
blood as to kill leeches, fleas, and bugs that bite the habitual 
smoker; by generating a poisonous principle in certain 
persons analogous to oxalic acid ; by making the blood dark ; 
often of a greenish-yellow colour ; by producing excessive 
muscular irritability ; typhus fever ; cachexia ; and lantern- 
jaws ; by impairing nutrition ; by causing baldness and skin 
diseases. 
“In the body politic it is considered that it produces the 
following results : It impairs the vigour and energy of the 
English people, and causes them to sink. in the scale of 
