THE TOBACCO QUESTION. 
219 
mind and nervous system alone are not of such quantity as 
can scarcely be attributed to any one form of slow poisoning. 
Again: some of the reported results may possibly strike them 
as of a somewhat doubtful character — as, for instance, in- 
sanity, which is shown to be more prevalent amongst the 
non-smoking than the smoking sex. Again : an attack of 
typhus fever having been caused by smoking two cigars, will 
hardly appear to the pathologist compatible with the known 
actions of morbid poisons. 
The defence requires a longer summing-up, and the evi- 
dence on that side a closer examination. In the first place, 
the separation between the use and abuse gives them a certain 
hold ; because if once their opponents admitted that there 
could be a proper use of tobacco , the argument would be 
decided ; and on the other hand, it is much more difficult to 
prove that indulgence to a small extent produces an evil, 
than it is to show that great abuse causes ill effects. The 
arguments relating to the great diffusion of the plant and 
the prevalence of the habit are well chosen. Such authori- 
ties as Christison and Pereira must have great effect, and 
their observations are usually considered as possessing con- 
siderable weight. 
It appears, indeed, hardly possible that so much should 
have been done in this short time, for the collection of a suffi- 
cient number of well-established facts is a work of years. 
The laity and smokers in general must have their at- 
tention most strongly directed to the fact, that no one, 
not even the most ardent defender of tobacco, has advocated 
a large indulgence in its use. The moderate smoker may 
not be injured by the habit; but the weak slave who all 
day long keeps a pipe or cigar in his mouth — who cannot 
work, read, think, nor even sit half an hour quiet unless 
he be smoking, will certainly have some, and deserves to 
have all, of the above threatened evils heaped upon his be- 
sotted head . — The Lancet . 
