Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-12-19

Vi 6he great naJlOnai narcotic tobacco. ItS
facts are well authenticated, and its conclu-
sionS very just. 1t should be carefully read
and spondered by the thousands who are
unawaresi abusing their physical and intel
lectual energies by lavish indulgence in
this most pernicious practice.
Dr. Dixon, the accomplished editor of
this journal. is making gallant tiItat the
vices of the day which come legitimately
within the purView Of his profession. He
is fearlessly plunging his probe into every
kind of diseased growth and excrescence,
and quackS and quackery of every grade
and shape are writhing beneath the keen
edge of his ".Scalpel." The present number
serves up in a tart paragraph the remains
of New England physician of eminence,
who for twenty-five years edited a highly re-
spectacle Medical Journal but has at length
succumbed and now wallows and stinks in
the slough of quackery:
The influence of Tobacco on the bodily and
mental condition Of American young men bas
long furnished an ample theme for moralist
and Psychologist; but for reasons not very Gre
ditable to his heart or his head, the practical
physician and surgeon has for the most part
held his peace. 1t would have been much
more creditable to the american Medical As
ISOLATION" if, instead of their silly discussion
on medical ethics and other wordy absurdities,
and their qusrrels about cutting out jaw-bones,
they had given our young men q correct idea
OF, he actual power of giant enemy to destroy
their manly character, and debase and stupefy
their minds and bodies. As we are not tram
nielled by the fear of the frowns of our dear
brethren, nor the loss Of patronage" we pro-
pose TO give our readers the results of our OBJ
servation of its power over the organism, dur
ing twenty-five years of practical observation
on the young men of this city.
No man likes to hear his fOllies held up to
public view. We, therefore, expect for this
service full measure of abuse. We received
an ample return of that kind for the article on
Lager-Bier, for which we are duly thankful; 8
contemporary says We "would rather be in q
minority than a Inajorityn-truth to say, we
plead guilty; for most of our profession are ac-
customed TO speak so charity of the vices of
their "paiients," in consequence of their pro-
foand reverence for their pockets that we have
imbibed great disgust for them we take
comfort from the conviction that we shall be
soundly abused by large class ofOur tobacco
smitten fellow citizens, and approved by at
least decent majority
sLet us attempt to give tobacco its actual position
as an agent amongst the catalogue of articles we
take into our much-abused mouths. Il is neither
food nor drink--that's clear lager-bier bad as t
is in one sense, food because it supplies material
e. e 1f,,r. Ia h. bod
would demand that its victims should eat more, or
else grow thin by the absorption of their fat and
and muscle TO SUPPLY raw material for combustien;
for the lungs like a stove-they must be Euppi-
ed with fuel, or the fire will 60 out
Tobacco is great demander OF drink, because it
constantly robs the body Of its fluids by expectora
ton. Lager.bier supplies fluid at least, although
it is deposited about the system in form very much
like a beer-barrel, and gives its votaries great
deal trouble to puff it away, aud rid themselves OF
it BY other unseemly and inopportune processes.
What, then, is tobacco? Why, simply narcotic
Il. e. (see the dictionary "a stupefer-a dead
ener of nervous and muscular energyn II any
man disputes this and assert that be finds himself
more capable of Intellectual or muscular effort,
when be has guild in his mouth, we congratulate
him on his improved astuteness we may betray
our own want Of the precious Intellectual quickener,
but we will venture the question, How much did it
quidl And how msjestically did you stand on your
legs when you first felt its effect:
Every one must remember the first effect Of to-
bacco NAUSEA, VERTIGO VOMITING, AND RELAxA-
TIoN OF THE ENTIRE MUSCULAR SYSTEM are its ins
variable effects; and If continued, relaxation of all
the sphincter closing muscles Of the hollow WIS.,
cera bowels, bladder, and stomach. This result is
sometimes sought for by the surgeon, and producs
ed by injecting an infusion Of tobacco into the bow
als IN, Of nku nnufir lar "a
laxng the grip of the openings in the abdomen,
when the bowel slips through them in those who
have rupture. We have seen the consequences ia
our own practice so awful from very weak Injection
which we administered to avoid the necessity of
operating by the knife, that we resolved never to
use il again.
Now, the reader will please to remember that all
the symtoms he first experiences from tobacco, are
the invarable results upon a natural or healthy
condition Of the body; and If he succeed, by per-
ssferance In its use, in overcoming tue immediate
consequences, il is only because the alarmed and
abesed nerves have summoned the forces of youth.
full vigor to bear the invasion long as possible
before they capitulate. Breath, food, and drink
are the means Of resistance and the besoted youth
soon discovers that the quantity of the latter must
be increased, and its quality strengthened, ii he
would resist the invader and continue to perform
his ordinary duties without showing plainly bis in
Capacity W upOu itNc mus IL 10 buht "
bacco, either used by smoking or chewing, is the
direct introduction TO drunkenness
Our remarks apply in a much more forcible man.
ner to smoking than to chewing. Some people are
so silly as TO suppose, because they do not spit
whilst smoking that no harm can ensus; but they
should remember that the oil of tobacco, which
contains the deadly NICOTINE, equally deadly aud
and amoEt as rapid In its action as strychnine) is
volatzed, and crculates with the smoke through
IL lg-.u. Il ~, IL
Whit of the cigar, and is absorbed by the extensive
continuation Of this membrane that lines the nos
trils, and acts upon the whole body. The smoke
of tobacco s indeed much more rapid in It's stuper
flying effect every professed smoker knows; il is
usually called soothing by lie yotaries; bat this is
of course only the first stage Of stupefactiOn il
acts precisely opium other narcotics do. Moro
over, the reader viii observe that the older phys-
clans used to throw the smoke Of tobacco into the
intestnes, when they sought its terribly relaxing
effects on the body IN rupture or constipation Of
the bowels, or forreducing dislocatione NIcoFINE
was the awful agent chosen by BocArne for pois
soning his brotber-in-aw because I killed and left
no sign whereby 70 convict him. At each Whit Of
smoke, it is known that good portion OF a large
drop of the oil Of tobacco crculates through the
mouth We have often seen it blown out of the
moeth and condensed on the thumb nail, by men
who had the ability to contract the lips an open.
lng sutncieuty Smali TOT that purpose. rive crops
OF the oil OF tobacco will kill a large dog. The
throat often becomes excessively dry and irritable
Ia smokers, and there is a morbid thirst produced
that greatly de5ilitates digestion, by dutng too
mach the fluids OF the stonIach-robbed also of its
heathlul saliva by the splitting.
But there are other and far more Notifying and
disastrous effects following the Of cigars There
is Law OF the system, which, ina grest number Of
cases, insures similar morbid results to similar
structures Of the human body. The lining mem
brane OF the uretkSA very similar ia lis structure
to that OF the rAouth. Here the use Of tobacco is
followed by The most distressing consequences it