The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1855-08-18
For the Opelousas Patriot.
by X.

L-To -"
mankind from the discovery of the New World, there
exists one vice which holds a prominent place in the
annals of our %country's early history and which, even
in this enlightened age, is exerting its corrupting in.
duence in every circle of society. 1t is the vicious
use of ToBACCo. There are comparatively few of it,
~votaries who are aware of the properties possessed by
this go popular plant, and that the strange fascina
ton with which it binds its victim is engendeted in
a vegetable product of vi,rlsnt poison. Itexerciset
its pernicious influence upon the moral, the physical
and the Intellectual man but SO gradual is it's pro
gress that a large majority Of those addicted to it,
use discredit the statements Of the scientific world
and cling to this potent charm until their whole cir
culatory system sympathizes with the heart and it,
functions-diseased by the constant use of this Hero
narcotic poison they may moreover feel a mental
decline, but ascribe it to other causes, unwilling to
impute so vile a charge to the alluring syren of Their
palate. 'f ' u
The Nicotiana 1abacum is asserted upon the best
authority to contain a poison, the most %virulent
known -nicotia a drop of which in a concentrated
solution will destroy the life of a dog. It is alarming
to think what O number are daily committing suicide
by means of a slow poison; for this is truly the case,
since the ordinary tobacco contains this principle in
q weaker solution, and hence requires a longer period
of time to consume or most effectually injure its vic.
tim, either by inhalation or absorption, or probably
both. 1t has been ranked in the botanical arrange
Atropa Belladonna deadly nightshade.)
Tobacco was introduced into France in the year
1850 by one Jean Nicot, from whom it received its
generic name, and into England twenty-six years
afterward by a no less parsonage than Sir Walter
Raleigh. 1t was justly condemned by the wise ad.
ministration of Queen Elizabeth and with even more
by James |, who published his celebrated
TRADE, " The Counterblast to Tobacco in. which he
ahJures its use as a custom, I" loathsome to the eye,
hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, danger.
GUS to the lungs, and, in the black, sinking fumes
thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Styeian
smoke Of the pit that is bottomless.'' CharlesI also
proclaimed against it but it was reserved for the
commanding genius of a Cromwell to prohibitit its cul-
t~ivation on English soil, since which epoch that peo-
pie have imported it from America and elsewhere j;
and at the present time it is estimated that its con-
sumption exceeds one pound for every man, woman
and child in the United Kingdom.
Among the strenuous opposers Of tobacco we find
Pope Urban and Pope Innocent, besides numerous
other ecclesiastics, conclusively establishing its per.
nicious influence upon the moral nature of man.
notwithstanding the panegyrics so p~roflscly layished
upon its social and medicinal virtues by Hernandez
in his Historic Plantarum. none will have the bold.
ness, even with this eminent botanist as authority, to
claim one social virtue for this filthy drug bette
Informed and more recent writers have come to the
rescue OF truth and reason, shedding a light upon the
subject which has dispelled the enchanted mists and
logs OF delusion. Man can no longer be ignorant of
the facts which he so fatally disregards, since the
researches of chemistry have discovered and propa.
gated truths which must be familiar to a man of anv
at all, who would not, willfnlly close his
ears to the warning voice of reason.
The medicinal actions of tobacco can well he dis
pensed with, the Materia Medica offering many sub.
stitutes which can most ably and most efficiently
supply the vacancy As to its effects upon the hui
man system, no perfectly accurate estimate could be
made. DR.. Joel Sllew enumerates, in his +" Prize Es.
say" no less than eightyseven diseases superin-
duced by the use of tobacco; among which are those
which most seriously affect the brain, those which
are most destructive to the integrity of the digestive
organs, and those which lay siege to the heart and
liver thus presenting a most formidable array to the
ranks in medical science. It isrelated of Parrlasius.
a painter in Athens, that in order more correctly
to express the pains and passions of his Prometheus
whom he was then about to paint, he bought from
THE Macedonian conqueror one of his Olynthian
captlves, and put him to extreme torture to serve as
a model for his intended design. But I will not tor
lure my own mind, nor torment that of my reader, by
enumerating the affections and painting the horrors
OF our Promethean victim of the tobacco mania their
symptoms are plain, obvious, and familiar they de-
Ilnenfe themselves . tbn,-ara tnn ,o,,o, g, II ~
The lines ascribed by Milton to Michael might with
proprlety have been uttered by that prophetic angel
70 prognostlcate the consequences of this very evil !:
(Which on the earth shall bring
diseases are, or which a monstrous crew
Before thee shall APPEAR
Z Burton, in his curious work on the " Anatomy of
Melancholy" Gays of tobacco: "a good yomit. I
confess, a virtlous herb if it be well qualified. on.
portunely taken and incidentally used but as it is
commonly abused by most men, which take it as
tlnkers do ale, It's a plague, a mischief, a violent
purger OF goods, lands, health hellish, deyilish.
and damned tobacco the ruin and overthrow of
body and soul" Thus we see a scientific man recon.
mending its use for medicinal purposes, but depre-
eating it as a filthy luxury could its services be re-
strlcted TO the former purposes, the world would be free
from one OF its most eliminating evils and most de
morailzlngv vices for surely the use of tobacco is often
the rum and overthrow of the body, y if not in some
instances Of "the soul" ! doubt not that il this
VICIOUS weed had been known to Ovid. he would have
exercised his transforming talent upon the Nicotiaua
and metamorphosed Phaetoa's IS sisters or the 1n,ac;on
'ohaen into the growth of a tobacco plantation. or
the fair Daphne into the vegetable existence of q
tobacco plant.
D,% AI,,t 4l:
but a'as this vice has confined itself to no estab.
iished limits, but has leaped the bounds of g%alIantry
anu stolen some of the charms of natures fair crca-
uoh and even in this high moral and intellectual
age may be seen the fair devotee welding a filthy
cigar which of itself is sufficient, like the wand If
Lneler, to put to flight a host of lovely charms. A
i'ps have been POLITICALLY described as the
leaves OF a bllshing rose enclosing the pearly gems
OF ocean but who would recognize the picture in the