The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-09-12
The Use OF Tobacco.
New York SUM-

New York SUM-
A correspondent propounds to US q
question which it is not difficult to ans
wer, and we are somewhat surprised that
a man who seems TO be in other respects
intelligent should ask it. This is the
question:
| Being undecided as to the presence
| of any poisonous substance in tobacco,
ask your opinion, hoping you will oblige
by answering In your columns. Being a
consumer, L will stop its use in chewing
/ If your answer is in the affirmative.
First, we will observe that of all the
forms of using tobacco the chewing of it
Is the most offensive. This practice is
one no gentleman should indulge in, for
1t carries its train disgusting necessities,
and really renders man unfit for the
society OF people of refinement A to-
bacco chewer pollutes the places he fire.
quents, and outrages the society into
which he intrudes himself The longer
he INDUCES in the habit, the more care
less he becomes of exhibiting its odious
incidents, until he grows TO be veritable
nuisance, with his discolored lips and
bullying cheek, his profuse expectoration
and offensive breath. He ought not to
be tolerated where ladies are, certainly
Eand unless he can keep his quld out of
his mouth while in their society, he should
not venture into the company of gentle
men. There is much excuse for the to-
bacco chewing of sailors, for pipes are not
available at sea hut no man who lives
on shore, and who pretends to the least
good breeding, should disgust people with
the filthy habit
All forms in which tobacco is used may
be made offensive, and they are so made
by men who are careless whether they
annoy people or not, and pay no heed to
the sensitive nostriIs of others. A man
may so impregnate his clothing with stale
tobacco smoke as to make himself dis
gushing when he goes into company.
This he has no right to do, and no man
of proper sense will do it. Before en-
tering mixed society he will take pains
either to change his clothes, or to air
those he has on and he will not suffer
himself to become such a slave of the
habit that he can not go without his cir
gar or his pipe when they may prove dis
agreeable TO his neghbors. Snuff taking,
which used to be so general among ladies
and gentlemen, has fortunately passed
out of vogue, for it was an unclean prac
tice, though some of the courtiers of d
former day used to take their snuff with
degree of grace, and the management
of the snuff-boX was great art, as the
handling of the eyeglasses may be made
now. 1t is painful to have to add that
large quantities Of Scotch snuff are now
sold for the disgusting and pernicious
purpose Of clipping" by women, prac
ticed in the South by reputable women,
but in the North by scarcely any others
than those who are in deep moral and
social degradation. There is no other
way of using tobacco 50 fatal to health
and character as this.
Now, as to the poison of tobacco.
There is III it one of the most violent
(which produces tremor,
of the heart, and, in sufficient
quantities, paralysis. If you wish to find
out whether tobacco has a poison or not,
blow the smoke of it on an insect and see
the result; or try it on a bird, and see
how rapidly it succumbs to the effect
Tobacco, however, is not a poison that
leaves important disease Of any particu
lar organ or class Of organs in its track,
and hence it is not an especial object of
attack by physicians, the majority of
whom, indeed, use it themselves But
that its excessive use seriously damages
the nervous system is fact proved be
yond dispute, and one of which large
numbers Of smokers have personal ex-
perience. Tobacco is an irritant of the
nervous system, but the body becomes
accustomed tO If and in MADEIRA tion II |
may be taken by many people with slight
injury, though no man addicted to its
can be in perfect health |
from day to day.
But chewing, never!