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NICOTINA  AS  INHALED  BY  TOBACCO  SMOKERS. 
In  another  experiment,  M.  Malapert  obtained  10  per  cent,  of 
anhydrous  nicotina.* 
These  results  have  an  interesting  bearing  on  the  popular  habit 
of  smoking  tobacco.  The  high  boiling  point,  and  consequent 
ready  condensibility  of  nicotina,  causes  the  most  of  that  poison- 
ous substance  to  be  stopped  before  it  reaches  the  mouth,  in  pro- 
perly arranged  pipes  ;  and  when  the  smoking  is  stopped  before 
all  the  tobacco  is  consumed,  the  latter  acts  as  a  means  of  re- 
taining the  poisonous  empyreumatic  oil. 
The  volatilization  of  nicotina  is  materially  aided  by  the  presence 
of  moisture,  which  accounts  for  the  fact  that  smokers  are  much 
more  easily  sickened  by  moist  tobacco  than  by  the  well- dried  leaf. 
As  the  agreeable  sensation  produced  by  tobacco  smoke  de- 
pends on  the  composition  of  the  vapors  that  are  drawn  into  the 
mouth,  of  which  nicotina  makes  a  part,  the  preceding  statements 
perfectly  explain  the  different  taste  (gout)  that  amateurs  find  at 
the  beginning  and  end  of  a  pipe  or  segar.  In  both  cases,  at  the 
commencement,  the  most  of  the  nicotina  is  condensed  in  the  un- 
consumed  tobacco,  from  whence  it  is  driven  as  the  fire  invades 
that  portion,  and  reaches  the  mouth  in  larger  proportion. 
The  reason  that  a  new  pipe  is  said  to  communicate  a  bad  taste 
to  tobacco,  is  owing  to  the  absorbent  power  of  the  clay,  in  re- 
taining nearly  the  whole  of  the  nicotin  until  it  becomes  saturated, 
and  hence  the  narcotic  effect  of  the  tobacco  is  materially  decreased. 
Finally,  the  houka,  and  other  smoking  apparatus  used  in  the 
East  and  in  India,  owe  their  harmlessness,  notwithstanding  in- 
cessant use,  to  their  construction  causing  the  condensation  of 
nearly  all  the  nicotina  before  the  vapor  reaches  the  mouth  of  the 
smoker,  owing  to  its  having  to  traverse  a  layer  of  water  and  to 
expand  in  a  chamber  above.  Besides,  the  tobacco  is  prepared 
by  the  addition  of  cinnamon,  essence  of  roses,  and  a  little  sugar. 
As  the  result  of  his  researches  M.  Malapert  advises  smokers, 
1st,  not  to  smoke  moist  tobacco  ;  2d,  to  use  only  those  pipes  fur- 
nished with  a  condensing  chamber ;  3d,  not  to  smoke  either  a 
pipe  or  segar  longer  than  till  half  the  tobacco  is  consumed. 
*This  proportion  is  so  much  higher  than  the  results  of  M.  Schloesing 
with  the  strongest  kinds  of  unmanufactured  tobacco,  that  we  must  either 
doubt  the  purity  of  Malapert's  nicotina,  or  believe  that  Schleosing  did  not 
exhaust  his  specimens  of  tobacco. — Ed.  Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
