A Disquisition on the Evils of Using Tobacco Part 2

Dr. Hossack cla.s.ses _tobacco_ with opium, ether, mercury, and other articles of the materia medica. He calls tobacco a "_fashionable poison_," in the various forms in which that narcotic is employed.--He says, "The great increase of dyspepsia; the late alarming frequency of apoplexy, palsy, epilepsy, and other diseases of the nervous system; is attributable, in part, to the use of tobacco."

Dr. Waterhouse says that Linnaeus, in his natural arrangement, has placed tobacco in the cla.s.s _Luridae_--which signifies, pale, ghastly, livid, dismal and fatal. "To the same ominous cla.s.s," he adds, "belong fox-glove, hen-bane, deadly night-shade, lobelia, and another poisonous plant, bearing the tremendous name Atropa, one of the furies." He says, "When tobacco is taken into the stomach for the first time, it creates nausea and extreme disgust. If swallowed, it excites violent convulsions of the stomach and of the bowels to eject the poison either upward or downward. If it be not very speedily and entirety ejected, it produces great anxiety, vertigo, faintness, and prostration of all the senses; and, in some instances, death has followed." The oil of this plant, he adds, is one of the strongest vegetable poisons, insomuch that we know of no animal that can resist its mortal effects. Moreover, says Dr.

Waterhouse, after a long and honorable course of practice, "I never observed so many pallid faces, and so many marks of declining health; nor ever knew so many hectical habits, and consumptive affections, as of late years; and I trace this alarming inroad on young const.i.tutions, _princ.i.p.ally_ to the pernicious custom of smoking cigars."

Professor Graham says "Tobacco is one of the most _powerful_ and _deadly poisons_ in the vegetable kingdom." "Its effects on the living tissues of the animal system," he adds, "are always to destroy life; as the experiments made on pigeons, cats, and other animals abundantly prove."

The Editors of the Journal of Health say, "Tobacco is in fact an absolute poison. A very moderate quant.i.ty introduced into the system, even applying the moistened leaves to the stomach, has been known very suddenly to extinguish life. In whatever form it may be employed, a portion of the active principles of tobacco, mixed with the saliva, invariably finds its way to the stomach, and disturbs or impairs the functions of that organ. Hence most, if not all, who are accustomed to the use of tobacco, labor under dyspeptic symptoms. Our advice is to desist immediately and entirely from the use of tobacco in every form, and in any quant.i.ty, however small. A reform, to be efficacious, must be entire and complete."

Dr. Warren says, "The common belief that tobacco is beneficial to the teeth, is entirely erroneous; on the contrary, by its poisonous and relaxing qualities, it is positively injurious." Says another physician, "Though snuff has been prescribed for the head-ache, catarrh, and some species of opthalmia, and sometimes with good effect; yet in all cases where its use is _continued_, it not only fails of its medical effect, but commits great ravages on the whole nervous system, superinducing hypochondria, tremors, a thickening of the voice, and premature decay of all the intellectual powers."

As a diuretic, Dr. Fowler, and others, have found it in some cases to be valuable. Its narcotic properties have sometimes a.s.suaged the tooth-ache; but it always hastens the destruction of the teeth. But of all substances in pharmacy, there seems to be a general agreement among medical writers, that tobacco, though occasionally beneficial, is the most unmanageable, and used with the least confidence.

A mult.i.tude of cases, confirming these views, have actually occurred; two or three of which I will cite. A clergyman, who commenced the use of tobacco in youth, says, "that no very injurious consequences were experienced till he entered the ministry, when his system began to feel its dreadful effects. His voice, his appet.i.te, and his strength failed; and he was sorely afflicted with sickness at the stomach, indigestion, emaciation, melancholy, and a prostration of the whole nervous system.

All this," says he, "I attribute to the pernicious habit of smoking and chewing tobacco." At length he abandoned the quid and the pipe. His voice, appet.i.te, and strength were soon restored; all aches subsided, and in a little time general health was enjoyed.

Another clergyman writes, "I thank G.o.d, and I thank you, for your advice to abandon smoking; my strength has doubled since I relinquished this abominable practice."

A respectable gentleman in middle life, who commenced chewing tobacco at the age of eighteen, was long afflicted with depression of spirits, great emaciation, and the usual dyspeptic symptoms.--All attempts to relieve him were fruitless, till he was persuaded to dispense with his quid. Immediately his spirits revived, and he soon regained his health.[A]

[A] Extracts in point might here be given from numerous letters received by the Author, since the publication of the first edition; but it is unnecessary.

Cases of reform and cure are occurring by thousands, every year, all over the land. Let every lover of tobacco, who is afflicted with _dyspepsia_, and nervous maladies, _reform_, immediately and entirely; and let him adopt a simple and rational system of diet, regimen, and employment; and in nine cases out of ten, he may hope to enjoy good health, and live long to bless the world.

The conclusion from all this evidence is established, that tobacco _is_ an _active poison_; that its constant use induces the most distressing and fatal diseases; and that, as a medicine, it is rarely needful, and never used, even _medicinally_, with entire confidence. This loathsome weed, then, should not be used, even _medicinally_, except in extreme cases, and then in the hands of a skillful physician. For every man--and especially for every boy, who has hardly entered his teens--to take this poison into his own hands, and determine for himself how much he will use, is as preposterous, as if he were to take upon himself to deal out a.r.s.enic, corrosive sublimate, or calomel.

No man can devote himself to the pipe, the quid, or the snuff-box, without certain injury to his health and const.i.tution. He may not perceive the injury at once, on account of immediate exhilaration; but complicated chronic complaints will creep upon him apace, making life a burden, and issuing in premature dissolution. And just so certain as it is our duty to do no murder,--to use all lawful means to preserve our lives, and the lives of others; as certain is it our duty and our privilege to practice _entire abstinence_ from the use of tobacco.

I maintain the position I have laid down,

III. From the consideration of the ruinous effects of tobacco upon the _intellect_.

Here, again, let Professor Hitchc.o.c.k speak. Says he, "Intoxicating drinks, opium and tobacco, exert a pernicious influence upon the intellect. They tend directly to debilitate the organs; and we cannot take a more effectual course to cloud the understanding, weaken the memory, unfix the attention, and confuse all the mental operations, than by thus entailing upon ourselves the whole hateful train of nervous maladies. These can bow down to the earth an intellect of giant strength, and make it grind in bondage, like Sampson shorn of his locks and deprived of his vision. The use of tobacco may seem to soothe the feelings, and quicken the operations of the mind; but to what purpose is it that the machine is furiously running and buzzing after the balance wheel is taken off?"

The late Gov. Sullivan, speaking of the use of tobacco, says, "It has never failed to render me dull and heavy, to interrupt my usual alertness of thought, and to weaken the powers of my mind in a.n.a.lyzing subjects and defining ideas."

The actual loss of _intellectual_ power, which tobacco has. .h.i.therto occasioned, and is still causing, in this Christian nation, is immense.

How immense, it is impossible accurately to calculate. Many a man who might have been a giant, has not risen above mediocrity; and many a man who might have been respectable and useful, has sunk into obscurity, and buried his talents in the earth. This is a consideration of deepest interest to every philanthropist, patriot, and Christian in the land, and especially to all our youth. We live at a time, and under circ.u.mstances, which call for the exertion of all our intellectual strength, cultivated, improved and sanctified, to the highest measure of possibility. Error, ignorance, and sin, must be met and vanquished; they must be met and vanquished by light and love. The eye of angels is upon us,--the eye of G.o.d is upon us,--and shall we fetter, and palsy, and ruin our intellectual capabilities, for the paltry pleasure of using one of the most poisonous, loathsome, and destructive weeds found in the whole vegetable kingdom? Let us rather shake off this abominable practice, and rise, as individuals and as a nation, in all our intellectual potency,--and let us go forth from day to day, to the n.o.ble purposes of our destiny, untrammelled by the quid, or the pipe, or the snuff-box; and before another generation shall lie down in the grave, our efforts and our example may cause the light of human science, and the light of civil and religious liberty, and the light of Bible truth, to blaze through all our valleys, and over all our hills, from Greenland to Cape Horn,--and with a l.u.s.tre that shall illumine the world.

I maintain my position,

IV. From a consideration of the ruinous effects of tobacco upon public and private _morals_.

The ruinous effects of tobacco upon public and private morals, are seen in the idle, sauntering habits, which the use of it engenders,--in the benumbing, grovelling, stupid sensations which it induces,--but especially in perpetuating and extending the practice of using intoxicating drinks.

Governor Sullivan has truly said, "that the tobacco pipe excites a demand for an extraordinary quant.i.ty of some beverage to supply the waste of glandular secretion, in proportion to the expense of saliva; and ardent spirits are the common subst.i.tutes; and the smoker is often reduced to a state of dram drinking, and finishes his life as a sot."

Dr. Agnew has truly said, that "the use of the pipe leads to the immoderate use of ardent spirits."

Dr. Rush has truly said, "that smoking and chewing tobacco, by rendering water and other simple liquors insipid to the taste, dispose very much to the stronger stimulus of ardent spirits; hence [says he] the practice of smoking cigars, has been followed by the use of brandy and water as common drink."

A writer in the Genius of Temperance, says that his practice of smoking and chewing the filthy weed, "produced a continual thirst for stimulating drinks; and this tormenting thirst [says he] led me into the habit of drinking ale, porter, brandy, and other kinds of spirit, even to the extent, at times, of partial intoxication." He adds, "I reformed; and after I had subdued this appet.i.te for tobacco, I lost all desire for stimulating drinks."

Now the fact that some chew, and smoke, and snuff without becoming sots, proves nothing against the general principle, that it is the natural tendency of using tobacco to promote intoxication. Probably _one tenth_, at least, of all the drunkards annually made in the nation, and throughout the world, are made drunkards through the use of tobacco. If thirty thousand drunkards are made annually in the United States, three thousand must be charged to the use of tobacco. If thirty thousand drunkards die annually, in the United States, three thousand of these deaths must be charged to the use of tobacco. If twenty thousand criminals are sentenced to our penitentiaries in twenty years, through the influence of strong drink, two thousand must be charged to the use of tobacco. If fifty-six millions of gallons of ardent spirits have been annually consumed in this country, five and a half millions must be charged to the use of tobacco. And of all the Sabbath-breaking, profanity, quarrelling, and crime of every description, caused by the use of intoxicating drink; a t.i.the must be charged to the use of tobacco. And what friend of good morals,--what friend of man,--what friend of his country,--what friend of Christ and true religion,--and especially, what friend of the temperance cause,--can look at these results with the eye of candor and compa.s.sion for his fellow-men, and then not deliberately resolve that he will never chew another quid, nor smoke another whiff, nor snuff another pinch of the dirty weed?

I maintain my position,

V. From a consideration of the amazing _waste of property_, which the use of tobacco involves. On this point I have been unable to obtain the means for making out a perfectly accurate statistical result. I can only approximate a definite calculation. This approximation, however, will serve all the purposes of this argument.

We will examine _three items_: the _cost_ of the article,--the _time_ wasted by the use of it,--and the _pauperism_ it occasions. From a statement lately furnished me from the Treasury department of our National Government, exhibiting the quant.i.ty and value of cigars and snuff, exported from and imported into the United States, annually, from 1st October, 1820 to 30th September, 1832, it appears that the value of cigars imported into the United States in 1821, was $113,601. In 1827 it was $174,931. In 1832 it was $473,134; while from the same doc.u.ment it appears that the value of cigars exported, in each of those years, was about one quarter the value of imports.

Hence it appears that, in 1832, about half a million of dollars were paid for imported cigars; while in 1821, only $113,601 were paid; being more than a four-fold increase in eleven years. Whether there has been a corresponding increase in the value of domestic cigars consumed, I have no means of determining. From the fact of so prodigious an increase of imported cigars, I am led to fear that the evil of cigar smoking has increased in this country within ten years, far more rapidly than the increase of population. From this treasury doc.u.ment, it appears also, that in 1824, the value of unmanufactured tobacco exported from the United States, was

$4,855,566 Of manufactured tobacco, the value was 2,477,990 Of snuff, 203,789 ---------- Making a total of $7,537,345

In 1832, the value of unmanufactured tobacco exported, was $5,999,769 Of manufactured tobacco, 3,456,071 Of snuff, 295,771 ---------- Making a total of $9,751,611 for 1832, and an increase from the year 1824, of $2,214,266

Whether the quant.i.ty consumed in this country equals the quant.i.ty exported, or exceeds that quant.i.ty, I have no data enabling me to give a definite answer. But from the fact that large quant.i.ties of tobacco are raised in various other parts of the world, for foreign consumption; and from the fact that the people of this country are, above all other people under the sun, a chewing, smoking, snuffing people; I have very little doubt that the amount used in this country is double that exported. If so, the sum total paid annually, for this vile weed, in this christian country, is $19,503,222. But as I wish in this examination, to put the estimate _below_ rather than _above_ the truth, I will set down the value of tobacco, cigars, and snuff, consumed annually in this nation, as equal to the amount exported; that is, in round numbers, $10,000,000.

That this is a very _low_ estimate, will appear by another conclusive calculation.

According to the census of 1830, the population of the U. States, over twenty years of age, is about six millions. Suppose one in four of our adult population, use tobacco in some form; (and this is a very moderate supposition,) it gives one million, five hundred thousand: and suppose one in twelve of those who have not reached the age of twenty, use it; it gives five hundred thousand more: making a total of two millions--or one sixth of our population--who use tobacco in some form.

Now suppose the expense to the consumers of this noxious drug, varies according to the quant.i.ty, and mode of using it. The expense to some is two dollars a year, to some it is five, and to others ten, twenty, and even fifty dollars a year. A laboring man, of my acquaintance, who did not use tobacco extravagantly, and only by chewing, told me that it cost him five dollars a year. A young lady of my acquaintance, says her snuff costs eight dollars a year. If a man pay three cents a day for cigars, it amounts to ten dollars, ninety-five cents a year. If he pay six cents, it amounts to twenty-one dollars, ninety cents a year. If he pay twelve and a half cents, it amounts to forty-four dollars, sixty-two cents a year.

It is the opinion of good judges, that very many, who smoke freely and use Spanish cigars, pay more than fifty dollars a year for this foolish gratification.

King James, in his "Counterblast," says, "Some of the gentry of this land, bestow three, some four hundred pounds a year, upon this precious stink."

It will certainly be a moderate calculation to put down one quarter of the consumers at two dollars a year,--one quarter at five,--one quarter at eight,--and one quarter at ten dollars a year. Then the several items will stand thus:--

Half a million at two dollars, is $1,000,000 Half a million at five dollars, is 2,500,000 Half a million at eight dollars, is 4,000,000 Half a million at ten dollars, is 5,000,000 _________ Total, $12,500,000.

Again: the amount of tobacco annually consumed in France, as appears from authentic doc.u.ments, is about seven millions of pounds; which is about one pound to every four persons. The amount annually consumed in England, as appears from authentic doc.u.ments, is about seventeen millions; which is about one pound to every man, woman and child, in that nation.[A] In the United States, probably there are eight times as much used as in France, and three times as much as in England, in proportion to our population. If so, the quant.i.ty used in this country cannot fall short of thirty-five millions of pounds;[B] which, at thirty cents a pound, amounts to ten and a half millions of dollars; not including cigars and snuff, which cost half as much more; making the total sum fifteen and three fourths millions of dollars. And this enormous sum is doubtless _below_ what the article actually cost the consumers.

[A] The tobacco imported and used for home consumption in Great Britain and Ireland in 1832, amounted to 20,313,651 pounds--the duty on which was 15,300,000 dollars.

[B] 1,765,000 pounds of tobacco pa.s.sed up the Erie Ca.n.a.l in seven and a half months in 1834.

From these _three_ results, we believe there cannot be a doubt that the actual expense of tobacco, in its various forms, to the consumers in this country, may safely be set down at _ten millions of dollars a year_.

The amount of _time_ lost by the consumers of tobacco, is another item of no inconsiderable moment. Some spend two, three, and four hours a day in this vile indulgence. To all who use the article, in any way, it occasions the loss of more or less time. If we put down the average amount at half an hour a day; and reckon the time thus lost at four cents an hour, it will amount--not reckoning Sabbaths--to six dollars, twenty-six cents a year, for each individual; which, for the whole company of consumers, is an amount of $12,520,000.

The _pauperism_ which tobacco occasions, is another fearful item.

Mult.i.tudes who are scarcely able to procure the necessaries of life, will shift, by sacrificing health and comfort, to procure the daily _quantum sufficit_ of tobacco. Many very poor families use tobacco, in all ways. Now suppose a poor family use twenty-five cents' worth of tobacco a week; it will amount to twelve dollars fifty cents a year,--and in fifty years, reckoning princ.i.p.al and interest, it will amount to three thousand five hundred and fifty-two dollars.

Just look at this tax for snuff and tobacco, in a single aspect more.

Many think it will make _no_ man the poorer, to pay six cents a day for this indulgence. It will make _every_ man the poorer. Let any young mechanic, or farmer, or merchant, consume six and a quarter cents' worth of this drug a day--beginning at twenty years of age, and continuing until he is sixty years old--and the sum total, reckoning princ.i.p.al and interest, will amount, in these forty years, to three thousand five hundred and twenty-nine dollars, thirty-six cents.

If the _cost_ of tobacco,--the _neglect of business_ which it occasions,--the expense of the _pipes_ and the _boxes_, and the various _apparatus_ which the use of it involves,--and the _intoxication_ to which it leads,--all be reckoned up, the amount of _pauperism_ which this weed brings upon the nation, cannot be less than one quarter of the sum total of all our pauperism. And the sum total of the pauperism in this nation, has been shown, again and again, to be not less than twelve millions of dollars, annually. Hence the pauper tax, occasioned by the use of tobacco, may be set down at three millions of dollars, annually.