The Billings herald. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1882-1885, 1884-12-20

W Detr US OUT 10 sea, anu lHere We Slt
stranded until the next one breaks over
us and dashos us inland again. Even
the widest surf in the summer season
in the neighborhood Of New York can
not compare with the great waves that
habitually dash upon the Sussex coast.
Pro AND CON.
Domo OF tho <s Conservative - ECecia
of Tobacco on tho System.
[St Louis Globe-Democrat.I
Tobacco is chewed to a greater extent
in the United States than elsewhere; it's
use in this manner, except in this coun-
try, being mostly confined to sailors.
| The effects Of chewing are very similar
to those of smoking Unless the juice
be swallowed it is likely there is less nic-
| otine taken into tho system by chewing
than ty smoking. The loss Of fluids
from the body, in either case, by expec-
toration, may be cause Of kidney dis
ease, as held by some, but tie evidence
on this point is very far from being con-
elusive.
Tobacco is classed by many authors
among the narcotics, but il docs not, in
fIly ledSoAdDiC ICSs', ploAuCC q ottiI'c-
flying or benumbinS effect; hence it is
no more ma, cotic than arsenic, anti
mony or any of the ordinary depressing
agents whose action it may resemble i'll
some regards. It does lessen the waste
Of the body and permits greater
amount of muscular eXertion than could
| he effected without it. Or. Hammond's
experiments, published in The North
American Review, some years since, di-
rcctly prove the truth of this assertion.
He found that the loss of weight, with
measured amount of work Was greater
when the workman used moderate
amount Of tobacco than when he was
deprived of it.
The effect of ''the weed upon the
mind is a soothing one. The passions
are less active and the disposition more
equanle under its use than without it.
Dlscomforts are born with equanimity,
and the monotony of existence OH ship
board, in prisons, in solitary camps, etc,
becomes endurable when tobacco is fur
nished. 1t diminishes the wear and
tear of the muscular system of the
underfed workman, and evidently has
the same effect upon tho brain of the
man who does too much mental labor or
who has to go without sleep.
A knowledge of these conservative ef-
fects of tobacco gives a key to the prob
lem which to the person who docs not use
it seems insoluble. How has it been
able to gain such wide diffusion
among the races of mankind? To the
uninitiated it is in every way disgusting.
It's odor, taste and effects upon the
stomach and brain are all repulsive.
Still it meets demand Of the system
which is not met so perfectly by any
other substance. Alcohol, tea, coffee,
cocoa, the betel nut, opium, Indian
hemp, and variety of drugs have this
in common with tobacco; they all more
or less diminish the waste of the body,
but most of these produce deleterious
effects vastly greater than the good to
be derived from them.
While moderate use of tobacco does
no harm to the vast majority of persons
who indulge in it, on the contrary, adds
to the pleasure of life by diminishing
the wear and tear OF the muscular and
nervous systems, and rendering life
endurable when without it the physical
wants would be too severely felt, it is
not without its dangers. During the
period of rapid growth end development
the physiological effects Of tobacco are
the very ones which are undesirable. The
tissues must change rapidly or the
growing child becomes stunted in his
growth, and the highest development of
the mental faculties becomes impossible.
The memory cannot retain facts, tho
Judgment cannot be exercised, percep-
ton is dull, the Will is weakened when
ever the delicate brain-cells are not re-
newed by the most rapid loss of worn
out matter and gain of new and highly
yitalized substance. Observations, con-
Quoted with all the care and thorough
ness characteristic of the German scien-
lists, have conclusively shown that
pupils who smoke make much less rapid
progress in school than those who do
not use tobacco in any form. There is,
therefore, good reasons for the rule that
no child Or youth Should be permitted
to form the tobacco habit.
The substances used in the prepara-
ticn of chewing and smoking tobacco
are generally less harmful than the to-
bacco itself. This is true of VANILLA
tcnka bean, cinnamon, cascaril!a bark,
etc; net true, however, Of opium,
which has been employed to some ex-
tent in cigars and cigarettes. Although
opium, when smoked, is not so bad as
when taken in substance or in the fern
of morphine, yet the habit of opium
smoking when once formed, is as diff
cult to break up as the whisky habit.
Tobacco-fne cut or plug-put up in
tin-foil, is dangerous, like snuff, as
source of lead poisoning.