The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-31 00:00:00

rapidly constituting them an aggregate, which it
is highly speculative to consider could ever be re-
duced through the probable return of a fortuitous
prosperity. Accommodation is here clearly trace-
able on both ides—the interest of the debtor being
to pacify his creditor by allowing him to draw, and
the necessity of the creditor inducing him to avail
himself of the debtor's liability. But the censure
and the opprobrium it will always create may, save
in extreme cases, be expected to neck it. Jt has
been said that it is difficult to find in bill transac-
tions, where accommodation begins and where it
ends. In this view, nevertheless, there is by no means
general concurrence. The open credit system which
is so freely in vogue among our first-class merchants
has been cited as a case in point, because the
facilities afforded may be abused; but even
then it would be accommodation, and justly re-
prehensible if carried beyond due bounds. What
the penalty ought to be for merchants, traders, and
others operating on doubtful credit it is difficult to
adjust ; but it should surely include more than an
ordinary bankruptcy suspension or refusal of certi-
ficate. Many sound thinking individuals are of
opinion that before any positive arrest of the evil
can be effected a penal enactment must be intro-
duced which will provide for meeting these especial
cases, and that it will be essential to make examples
to deter others from taking so objectionable a
course. But then it is urged, how will you be able
to define what is and what is not accommodation ?
The answer is a ready one ; if there be the slightest
question in the matter make no hesitancy, but
allow a jury composed of mercantile men to settle
the difficulty. If on the one hand the culprits im-
plicate& can be proved to have misconducted them-
selves, then the sentence could not be impugned;
and if on the other the allegation were unfounded,
an open aquittal would be all the more satisfactory.
Complete confirmation or corn plete refutation would,
in either case, be the mast desirable,"' and the
law would not be brought into contempt through
any hasty or ill-considered judgments. The
whole matter at issue is, nevertheless, sur-
rounded by intricacies ; but if sensible and
honest minds were applied to the task of clearing
them away, the labour would not be found dis-
couraging, and the result would be extremely be-
neficial. At present we despair of seeing an active
movement with the object of remedying this crying
grievance, for as the Government have not been
fortunate in their past legislative career, it is im-
impossible to say what may be their prospects in
this respect hereafter. If bankruptcy administra-
tion is eventually to be modified, and modified with
the intent of affording increased protection to the
creditor, clauses might be introduced in the next
session of Parliament which would provide for
punishing the wanton abuse of confidence, such as
has been lately pourtrayed in more than one branch
of business.

THE USE AND ABUSE OF TOBACCO.

The following letter has been addressed to a con-
temporary :—" Sir,—Having been applied to some
time since tojoin in a petition to the House of Com-
mons that they would appoint a committee to in-
quire into the effects produced by the prevailing
habit of tobacco smoking, I declined to do so ;
first, because it did not appear to me that such a
committee would be very competent to discuss a
question of this kind; and, secondly, because, even
if they were so, I did not see that it would be possi-
ble for Parliament to follow up by any act of legis-,
lation the conclusions at which they might have
arrived. Nevertheless I am ready to admit that the
subject is one of no trifling importance, and well
worthy the serious consideration of any one who
takes an interest in the present and future well-
being of society. From these considerations it is
that now venture to address to you the following
observations. _ _ _

The empyreumatic oil of tobacco is produced by
distillation of that herb at a temperature above that
of boiling water. One or two drops of this oil (ac-
cording to the size of the animal) placed on the
tongue will kill a cat in the course of a few minutes.
A certain quantity of the oil must be always circu-
lating in the blood of an habitual smoker, and we
cannot suppose that the effects of it on the system
can be merely negative. Still, I am not prepared
to subscribe to the opinion of those who hold that,
under all circumstances, and to however moderate
an extent it be practised, the smoking of tobacco is
prejudicial. The first effect of it is to soothe and
tranquillise the nervous system. It allays the pains
of hunger, and relieves the uneasy feelings pro-
duced by mental and bodily exhaustion. To the
soldier who has passed the night in the trenches
before a beleaguered town, with only a distant
prospect of breakfast when the morning has arrived;
to the sailor, contending with the elements in a
storm; to the labourer, after a hard day's work;
to the traveller in an uncultivated region, with an
insufficient supply of food, the use of a cigar or a
tobacco pipe may be not only a grateful indulgence,
but really beneficial. But the occasional use of it
under such circumstances is a very different matter
from the habit of constant smoking which prevails

in certain classes of society at the present day.
The effects of this habit are, indeed, various, the

difference depending on difference of constitution,
and difference in the mode of life otherwise. But,
from the best observations which I have been able

to make on the subject, I am led to believe that
there are very few who do not suffer harm from it,
to a greater or less extent. The earliest symptoms
are manifested in the derangement of the nervous
system. A large proportion of habitual smokers are
rendered lazy and listless, indisposed to bodily and
incapable of much mental exertion. Others suffer
from depression of the spirits, amounting to hypo-
chondriasis, which smoking relieves for a time,
though it aggravates the evil afterwards. Occasion-
ally there is a general nervous excitability, which
though very much less in degree, partakes of the
nature of the delirium tremens of drunkards. I have
known many individuals to suffer from severe
nervous pains, sometimes in one, sometimes in
anotier part of the body. Almost the worst case of
neuralgia that ever came under my observation was
that of a gentleman who consulted the late Dr.
Bright and myself. The pains were universal, and
never absent ; but during the night they were
especially intense, so as almost wholly to prevent
sleep. Neither the patient himself nor his medical
attendant had any doubts that the disease was to
be attributed to his former habit of smoking, on
the discontinuance of which he slowly and gra-
dually recovered. An eminent surgeon, who has a
great experience in ophthalmic diseases, believes
that, in some instances, he has been able to trace
blindness from amaurosis to excess in tobacco smok-
ing ; the connection of the two being pretty well
established in one case by the fact that, on tile
practice being left off, the sight of the patient was
gradually restored. It would be easy for me to
refer to other symptoms indicating deficient power
of the nervous system to which smokers are liable ;
but it is unnecessary for me to do so ; and, indeed,
there are some which I would rather leave them to
imagine for themselves than undertake the descrip-
tion of them myself in writing.
But the ill effects of tobacco are not confined to
the nervous system. In many instances there is a
loss of the healthy appetite for food, the imperfect
state of the digestion being soon rendered manifest
by the loss of flesh and the sallow countenance. It
is difficult to say what other diseases may not fol-
low the imperfect assimilation of food continued
during a long period of time. So many causes
are in operation in the human body which may
tend in a greater or less degree to the production
of organic changes in it, that it is only in some
instances we can venture to pronounce as to the
precise manner in which a disease that proves
mortal has originated. From cases, however,
which have fallen under my own observa-
tion, and from a consideration, of all the circum-
stances, I cannot entertain a doubt that, if we could
obtain accurate statistics on the subject, we should
find that the value of life in inveterate smokers is
considerably below the average. Nor is this opinion
in any degree contradicted by the fact that there
are individuals who in spite of the inhalation of
tobacco smoke live to be old, and without any
material derangement of the .health ; analogous
exceptions to the general rule being met with in
the case of those who have indulged too freely
in the use of spirituous and fermented liquors.
In the early part of the present century tobacco
smoking was almost wholly confined to what are
commonly called the lower grades of society. It
was only every now and then that any one who
wished to be considered as a gentleman was addicted
to it. But since thew ar on the Spanish Peninsula,
and the consequent substitution of the cigar for the
tobacco pipe, the case has been entirely altered.
The greatest smokers at the present time are to be
found, not among those who live by their bodily
labour, but among those who are more advantage-
ously situated, who have better opportunities of
education, and of whom we have a right to expect
that they should constitute the most intelligent and
thoughtful members of the community. Nor is the
practice confined to grown-up men. Boys, even at
the best schools, get the habit of smoking, because
they think it manly and fashionable to do so; not
unfrequently because they have the example set