The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-01-15
TOBACCO DRUNKARDS.
Startling Facts About the Eject Upon tn
Human system OF the Use of Tobacco--
A Specialists Statement.


ciscussion," said Witness reporter
who was present at that meeting, to the
lecturer of the evening, Mr.. Garnsey,
in an interview.
You refer | suppose among other
things, to my classification of habitual
users OF tobacco as drunkards,' 1t
was not slip of the tongue. 1t is q
startling Sact that tobacco-user is n
drunkard. Especially is this true of
the smoker"
Many excellent men, leaders of the
| people, are smokers, who would reject
a glass of liquor with moral aversion"
agree with you that many man
can discern the alcoholic mote in his
brothers eye, Notwithstanding the
cloud of tobacco smoke in his own. [
would, however, say to such an one
Cast out the beam out of thine own
eye; and then shalt thou see clearly
to cast out the mote out of thy brothers
eye"
Let me explain the statement that
an haoitual tobacco-user is a drunk
ard" continued Mr.. Garnsey. "Medi-
cal men look upon any brain that is sx-
cited into unusual or beyond natural
activity by marc otic, as being in an
intoxicated conditi on. The brain,
falsely and unfairly acted upon, is in an
intoxicated state, whether the acting
agent is alcohol, opium or tobacco.
These three poisons each act in a differ
ent manner. Alcohol excites its vic
tim; opium puts him to sleep, and he
lies like dead man; tobacco takes a
middle ground produces inactivity,
stupol, loss of energy. A thoughtless
and indifferent tone of mind results,
wher not under influence of the weed.
The brain has been trained to act only
when intoxicated by the narcotic, to-
bacco. When the mind must be active,
users chew twice the quantity of the
weed. If their supply is exhausted be-
fore the task is accomplished, how they
sigh! The workman throws down his
implements. 1t is no use! | must
have chew of tobacco, OF cannot do
the job, Or discipher the problem, or
whatever it may be! Now, | ask, in all
candor, is such an one sober man, or
is lie an intoxicated man when, the
chew being forthcoming, his nerves be.
come quiet, his brain rebounds with
new power and he accomplishes his
taskP"
" He would argue that the result was
good, that the stimuiant helped him."
suggested the reporter.
Because he had trained himself to
work only in an intoxicated state. 1t
affects he stomach as a deadly poison.
In course of time it utterly destroys di-
gestive functions. Ii tobacco does not
affect the mind, what has the number
of pounds sold to do with the number
of suicides in any part of the country
| There are men who if YOU will give
them the number of the population in II
certain district and the number of
| pounds of tobacco shipped to that dis
| trict for immediate consumption there,
will tell you almost to Il man the mum
ber ot suicides that occur annually
among them. This is Il fact. Habiluai
tobacco users are men who seldom draw
Il sober breath. The smell of their
breath is almost equal to the gas of Il
sewer pipe"
Public sentiment has Il great deal of
tolerance for the tobacco user"
The public is not intelligent on the
subject and does not care FOR intorma"
lion. The agency of tobacco is masked.
\ strong, wcll-looking ana hearty man.
who has sapped ali the vitality from
his system, and has spat it out under his
i7et, meets with some little accident.
perhaps has some sudden sickness and is
gone. What caused his death? Friends
answer, Palpitation of the heart Now
GlSpnSe,
Another died of bilious fever. Tobacco
stipatiOn. Another, oh, he had pui-
monary consumption Tobacco is
known to be direct cause of throat and
bronchial affection. and it is a grave
question with medical men whether
tobacco is not the main cause of so much
consumption in our land to-day. II was
no. ALWAYS So
"What relation has the use of to-
bacco to the appetite for alcohol"
" A craving for alcohol is aroused by
the physical conditions produced by
the use of tobacco. General debility.
weariness, and a marked prostration of
the whole system are Just the states
chat alcoholic medicines have been pre-
3cribed for, for centuries. The sudden
stimulus of alcohol produces such an
nXuberant feeling, the victim drinks
deeper and deeper till all seli-control is
lost. Delirium tremens, and death re.
suits; ard believe the sefmurderer
from this course will be called in iudg-
ment as any other suicide. 1t is u sim
gular, yet nevertheless true, statement.
that the use of alcohol alone never pro-
tuces delirium tremens. but it is a dis
ease natural to tobacco, and is hastcncd
by the use of alcohol.
"Dr. Blanchard OF this city," pur-
sued Mr.. Garnsey, "asserts that in fif-
teen years practice he has never seen
or heard OF delirum tremcns, except
where tobacco had been used for years +;
md he says that though a man should
drink all his days and not use tobacco
he might die from the drink, but the
delirium tremens would never show it.
self; and that it is produced directly
through the agency of tobacco, which
completely skaters and wrecks the
nervous system, so that it cannot stand
the sudden hard shocks of alcoholic
stimulants, and the delirium tremens is
II natural result of such a condition.
From tobacco, four distinct and sure
poisons can be extracted. We have no
other mineral or vegetable substance on
the globe of which this may be said.
Two of the four poisons can be procured
from other sources, while two are only
known to tobacco and are peculiar to
itself. These two are the most deadly,
namely, nicotianni, concrete or
solid oil; the other, nicotine, which
is limpid, colorless liquid. DIR.
Virgil Blanchard tells that he took
a piece of broken stem of
a meerschaum pipe and scraped
with knife on the inside; gave one
eighth of the Sc ings to a Scotch
mastiff weighing s.Xty-1ive pounds. and
it killed him in ten seconds.
"The use of tobacco was carried to
such excess in the Sandwich Islands |
many years ago, that many would fall |
down senseleSs and suddenly die