The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-11-12
The Confessions of Reformed Smoker

lightning. There are tOrty-elgnC uluerent
kinds of drinks in all.
The Confessions of Reformed Smoker.
A large proportion of our fellow-citi-
Zens will feel interested in the confessions
of one who has suffered the slings and
arrows of outrageous tobacco, and risen
like Phoenix from his ashes, refreshed
and cured. Mr.. Francis Gerry Fairfield,
having resolved to give the weed fair
field and no favor, made an experimental
trial upon himself during the year ending
July 10, 1874, with the results which we
shall endeavor to epitOmiZe. That tobacco
differently affects different temperaments
there is no doubt. That different grades
and qualities of tobacco differ materially
IN their physiological action is demOnstra-
ted by experiment; but our converted
smoker is constrained to arrive at the con-
clusion that, in the majority of instances,
the habit of smoking is productive of nerv-
GUS degeneracy. Mr.. Fairfield's father
used tobacco. his grandfather on his moth
er's side was moderate smoker, the "cOl-
lateral limbs radiating from the family
trunk have all smoked. In fact, he
comes from long line of illustriOus and
highly-flavOred smokers. He had smoked
himself for thirteen years, having COM
menced at the age of p. He is of cerebro-
muscular temperament, of slender ply
sique, with great power of endurance, but
sensitive to degree. He falls asleep I'M
der the action of whisky, but ale acts as a
stimulant to the brain and nerve centers.
Has taken morphine dozen times, is reg
ular in his habits, temperate, and accus-
toned to protracted Intellectual effort.
Although a smoker, he has never been
able to stand the taste of tobacco without
nausea. When he first began his career
he had contraction of the pupil of the eye,
dizziness, labOred breathing, and a tenden-
cy to spasms. Concludes that they were
due more to the pyIieline and picoline
bases than to nicotine. As he continued
in the habit a state of pleasant and eXhil-
arated reverie superseded the more Obtru-
sive symptoms, mental aura was marked
by general tendency to abstraction, and
by a dreamy, metaphysical habit of
thought. He was intOlerant of Darticu
lars, and impatient of nicely of discrimi
nation. On the other hand, there was
some loss of sympathy with life. He
speculated on Hegelian nOthings-mere
lodges in words. By refraining from to-
bacco he has returned to the old dramatic
sympathy with life, and he fancies Nero
that passes for tirmneSS, and not little
that passes for cruelty in this world, is but
the apathy cf narcotism in its maturer
stages. AS the process of narcOtiZing is
persisted in languOr attacks the will. there
is a sinking at the heart in waking in the
morning, the system Graves stimulants,
and the incapacity to recOllect marks the
advanced stage.
These symptoms indicate that the great
nervO-vital center, the medulla Oblongata.
which distributes its forces alike to body
and brain, cO-OrdinatGd now rs vital phe-
nomena, now as psychical phenomena, is
more or less involved, and that vital par
alysis is liable to supervene at any juno
ture. But even at this stage the symptoms
Weld so rapidly to abstinence as to leave
no doubt in my mind that the specific in
fluence of the tobacco is transmitted di-
rectly to the great vital tract by means of
the pneumogastIic nerve. The depressed
action of the heart, long before the cere-
bral centers are involved, points directly
to this conclusion, and the augmented gas
tric and salivary SecreuOns indicate the
same avenue of action.
In the summer of 1872, symptoms of
writer's cramp attacked Mr.. Fairfield s
right arm. TonicS, nervineS, and broad
nibbed pens produced no effect. In OctO-
Der he started for the country, and became
temperate, whereupon the affection of the
arm wore slowly off. Upon resuming his
usual quantum his arms were troublesome
as ever. Whenever he reduced his quanti-
tv of tobacco, the pain and numbness left.
In December he tried Cuban tobacco, a
ration of half an ounce & day. No per-
| ceptibe alteration in myptoms-tendency
/ to tremOr and slecpleSsnesS. Jan. l.,
dreams of queer, trance-like cast, with
/ starts: 4th, secOnsses of the limbs and
| ierkiness in the arms; 5th, irritable and
peevish; 9TH, no sleep-brOmide of pot
| ash. Increased HonradeZ to three-fourths
| of an ounce, with an intensiticatiOn of the
symptoms. 1lth. Refrained altogether
/ from tobacco. Fell asleep several times
during the day. Abstained for ten days
nervous system gradually recovering its
tone-increased craving for food, Dist.
! Put himself on three cigars per day, one
after each meal. Some symptoms, not so
bad. Feb. l. Commenced another ten
davs of abstention. with recovery-gained
in weight. II. Quarter of an ounce perique
per dav. Dizziness after smoking sink
/ inc at the heart: numbness of limbs. Dis
carded perique, with it excess of nicotine,
and took three pipes of HOnradeZ pei
day until 1st of April, when he put himself
on quarter of an ounce of Virginia caven-
dsh-great vital depression. April
10. Went to the country, abstained fol
few days with a rapid recovery. june
l. Commenced with an occasional cigar:
vital depression so great as to compel Ie-
sort to quinine in two-grain doses. a
violent agitation of the mucous membrane
lining of the nose has attended every with
drawal of the narcotic, the throat also az
fected. After a series of experiments he
has arrived at the following conclusions
/ l. That nicotine is the special agent con
cerned in vital paralysis and in dIsturban
ces of muscular coordination, and that 1t;
action upon the medullary centers Is pro
pagated by way of the pneumOgastriC
nerve; that the cercbellar centers (co-Ordi
mating the muscles concerned in locomO
tion), and the corpora-striata Tor great
motor ganglia of the cerebrum) are mex
affected: in other words, that the mOtOl
tracts follow the vital in yielding to tht
influence of the poison.
2. That the cOIteX of the brain is the
last to be affected by the pyrieline, plcO
line, and collidine bases. Hence the dif
ference in physiological action betweeI
HonradeZ. with its minimum of nicotine
and perique and cayendish, with their ex
cess; also the analogous difference be
tween Havana cigars and cigars manutac
, tured from Connecticut leaf.
3. That smoking is often the excltin.
cause of the various neuroses, and alway
, a fruitful source of local aneurism, by i'm
t pairing the nervous circulation and LAYING
the foundation for defective nutrition i
, various directions. Cessation from tObaC
co should be made condition precedent {
medical treatment in writer's eramp an
: nervous affections of that type (the paraly
. tic).-PopWLar Science Monthly.