Litchfield enquirer., 1871-02-16
For the Enquirer. TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL.
BY HENRY TERRY, ESQ.

The above words make part of the title
 of small book, written as review of two
 articles in the Atlantic Monthly, under the
 captions, "Does it pay to Smoke?" and
 "Will the Coming Man Drink Winey' now
 published as an essay on the physiological
 effects of tobacco and alcohol. The au-
 thor of this essay, after giving his theory
 and philosophy of the action and effects
 of tobacco on the human system, says
 with apparent earnestness, 'It does pay
 to smoke" After lengthy discussion
 of the physiological effects of alco-
 hol, he closes his treatise and
 essay with these words, ''The coming
 man, so long as he is member of com plex, civilized society, will continue to use,
 with profit as we'll as pleasure, the two
 universal stimulants, Alcohol and Tobac.
 co.," There can be little doubt that there
 will he men who will think Git does pay to
 smoke" SO long as tobacco-leaves can be
 coiled up into convenient shape, to be
 set on fire at ono end, and the smoke
 drawn through and into the mouths of
 such men, and then as self-complacently puffed out, as though it were an act and practice contributing to the highest re finement and in no way deleterious to health. So long, too, as wine can be made,
 ''that giveth it's color in the cup, and nov eth itself aright," will there be wine bib- bers, disregar1ing the record, that, ''at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth lik an adder" That this book will be re- garded favorably by all who purpose to continue the use of tobacco, and by all who are determined to persist in the use of alcoholic drink, cannot be doubted. It is very plausible, and may properly be said to be very valuable treatise on the physio- logical effects of tobacco and alcohol. To those who desire confirmation in the belief of the rightfulness of the moderate use of al- coholic stimulants, regardless of the veal or woe of others, and who desire to ignore and make light of the imminent danger attending such use, it is a book giving aid and comfort. To those, however, really desirous of retaining the wayward, say ing themselves and others from the in,mod crate. the narcotic. and degrading use of these powerful stimulants, there arises an other question of great practical impor- tance. Admitting the correctness of the facts adduced, the soundness of the rea- soning of the reasoning of the author, and the conclusiveness of the arguments urged, what does the honest inquirer after truth learn from this book, of practical impor. tance? What use is to be made of it? What good likely to accrue from it? The author says. 'To prove that tobacco right ly used is not only harmless, but very de- cidedly beneficial, then it is doubly prov ed that it does pay to smoke" The au- thor seems to entertain the belief, that he has proved this That while the narcotic and immoderate use of these stimulants is deleterious, the moderate and stimulant use is not only safe but beneficial. The narcotic dose, he says tends to paralysis, while the stimulant dose aids nutrition. "A narcotic dose," the author says, "is any poison, which. when taken in sufficient quantities into the system. produces death by paralysis" A stimulam he defines to be ''any substance which, when brought to bear in proper quantities upon the ner- vous system, facilitates nutrition" and he says ''that eoerything depends upon the size of the dose" This is the doctrine for the limited and stimulant use of tobacco. or the secret of facilitating nutrition, by the use of smoke
 Admitting this book to be complete re- futation of the doctrine that the moderate use of tobacco is poisonous and hurtful. let us now institute an inquiry as to facts touching 1t use. Among tho multitude who chew and smoke tobacco, what propor- tion of them confne themselves to the moderate use. that proper quantity which facilitates nutrition? Take the testimony of men addicted to the habit: Will not all of them say that they commenced with the moderate use. and will they not say that the man who last year chewed quantity only sufficient to aid nutrition, is this year consuming more? Will they not be com- pelled to say that the man who, in the year 1861, was using it freely, is now, in the year 1871, using it more freely, and in all has crossed the line from the stimulant to the narcotic use, and do we not know that the man who commenced the use, thirty years ago, is now slave to the habit, and subject Ito use the words so often quoted by the autborl not only to "spurts of extravagance' in sentiment and thought. but to extraysgantspurts of poison ous saliva, elected everywhere along his path. leaving the filthy marks of the obsti- nate habit. so
 Now as to smoking. The young man, and frequently the mere school-boy, is frequently urged by some companion to- take smoke. If the young man has means at his command, he commences