676 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
As it respects that pernicious plant, tobacco. What sad 
consequences have resulted from the common employment 
of this narcotic ! What wasteful expenditure it involves ; 
what enervation of the system it produces; what an annoy- 
ance it is to others, and how filthy ! I have yet to see one 
real benefit that arises from it, used as it ordinarily is. To 
say it calms the perturbed spirits, and is conducive to the 
concentration of thought, is simply u a delusion and a snare.” 
And if I am told it serves to while away time, I reply, time 
was made for far nobler purposes than that. And should the 
young anatomist, in extenuation, assert that its essential oil, 
when dissipated in fumes, acts as a disinfectant, I can tell 
him of a much better one, one that shall not act upon his 
nervous system, exhausting it, and creating an artificial want, 
nor give rise to dyspepsia with its thousand attendant evils, 
and render the body susceptible to become diseased on the 
application of a slight exciting cause. Shun it, my young 
friends, as you would poison, — for such, it is. Avoid it as 
you would a serpent, for, like that reptile, it will in the end 
entangle you in its coils. Thousands have become its slaves, 
and now clank their fetters in misery. Dare you then by 
resisting to be free ! 
The editor of the Lancet, reviewing the arguments ad- 
vanced for the use of tobacco, whether in moderation or 
excess, says: 
1. To smoke early in the day, is excess. 
2. As people are generally constituted, to smoke more 
than one or two pipes of tobacco or one or two cigars daily, 
is excess . 
3. Youthful indulgence in smoking, is excess. 
4. There are physiological indications which, occurring in 
any individual case, are criteria of excess. 
And he concludes by the following sensible advice, with 
which I fully concur. 66 W e most heartily desire to see 
the habit of smoking diminish ; and we entreat the youth of 
this country to abandon it altogether. Let them lay our 
advice to heart. Let them give up a dubious pleasure for a 
good. Ten years hence, we shall receive their thanks.” 
Thus have I endeavoured to provoke in you a determina- 
tion to do your duty, by showing you your responsibility, 
and how admirably you are constituted for it. I have like- 
wise commented on the aids you will receive in the acquire- 
ment of knowledge. Nor have I hesitated to point out the 
evils that may arise from the indulgence in certain habits 
that militate against mind-progress. Assimilation appears 
to be a law of nature. You know if morbific matter be 
