Smyrna times., 1888-11-28

RAS ASNo WINNING uO may see LQOu-
sands OF strange forms floating in the
tobacco smoke. Yes, reader, he may
people it, according to his temperament.
with agreeable or revolving images
with flowers and gems springing up,
as in dreams before him-or reptiles
serpents and the whole host of fdid6Ieric
skimming like notes in the sunshine.
amidst its curling wreaths.
This is all we can say in favor of
smoking and quite.enough to render the
habit too common to leave any hope of
its suppression, either by the weapons of
rldlcule, or the more summary plan of
the Sultan Amurath, mentioned in our
hrst article. In no sense, except as.
affOrding a temporary qualification. can
1t be justified or defended. 1t pOllutes
the breath, blackens the teeth, wastes
the saliva which is required for diges-
ton and Injuries the complexion.
In addition to this it produces worst
forms of dyspepsia and other nerve dis
orders of the stomach, and in corpulent
subjects, it disposes to apoplexy. At
the present moment smoking is fash
lonable and crowds of young men are
to be seen at all hours walking the
streets with cigars in the corner of
their mouths and their eyes cooked in
another direction and their hats tilted
to one side, annoying the passengers
or passers-by. They seem to consider
1t manly to be able to smoke a certain
number without rejecting, that there
Is scarcely an old woman in the cOun-
try who would not beat them to naught
with their own weapons, and that thew
would gain no sort of honor were theV
able to Outsmoke all the burgOmasters
OF Amsterdam. As the practice, how
ever, seems more restored to by these
gentlemen for the sake of effect and
exhibiting a little of the "haut ton"
than for any thing else, it is likely soon
to die a natural death among them.
particularly as niggers, jockeys, pOr-
ters, &C., have lately taken the field in
the same way, being determined that
no class Of the community shall enjoy
the exclusive monopoly of street smok-
ing.
The observations we have made upon
the effects of snuffing and smoking ap-
ply IN still stronger terms to chewing.
Truly this is the worst way for the
breath in which tobacco can be used
The waste of saliva is greater than even
IN smoking, and the derangment of
digestive organs prOpOrtiOnally severe.
We affirm all confirmed chewers are
more than usually subject to dyspepsia
and hypOchOndriasis and MANY of
them are afflicted with liver complaint,
brought on by their imprudent habit.
From several foregoing circumstances
we are convinced medico- -physiologi-
cally justified in considering tobacco
closely allied to intoxicating liquor and
It's confirmed vOtaries as a species of
drunkards. At least it is certain that
where used to excess it gives birth to
many of the cOporeal and mental man
ifestatiOns of ebriety.
We have observed that persons who
are much addicted to liquor have an
inordinate liking to tobacco in all its
different forms, and it is remarkable
that in the early stages of ebriety al
most every man is desirous of having a
pinch of snuff. This last fact is not
easy to explain, but the former NAV be
accounted for by that incessant craving
after excitement which clings to the
system of the confirmed drunkard.
There is no limits to the extrava-
gances of those visionary tobacco
dreams called into birth by these vivid
exercises of the imagination by smok-
ing.
In practice we have met some curious
cases of delirium produced by smoking.
COntrasted with them the widest fic-
tiOns of Rabelais, Ariosto or Dante.
sink into absolute probabilities.
A patients history of his dreams to
us, we recall: He dreamed on one oc-
casiOn he possessed ubiquity, twenty
resemblances of himself appearing in
as many different places in the same
room, and each being so thoroughly
possessed by his own mind, that he
could not ascertain which of them
was himself and which his double, &c.
On this occasion his fancy so far
travelled into regions of absurdity, that
he conceived himself riding on his own
backbone of the resemblances being
mounted upon another and both ami
mated with the soul appertaining to
himself in such a manner that he knew
not whether he was the carrier or the
carried. AS another time of his tobacco
reverie that he was converted into a
mighty pillar of stone, which reared
its head in the midst of a desert, where
it stood for ages, till generations after
generations have melted away before
it.
Even in this state though uncon-
scious for possessing any organ of sense
or being else than a mass of lifeless
stone, he saw every object around-the
mountains growing bald with age-the
forest dropping in decay, and he heard
whatever sounds nature is in the GUS
tom of producing such as the thunder
peal breaking over his naked head, the
winds bowling past him, or the cease
less murmur of streams. At last said
he also waxed cold and began to crum-
bic into dust, while the moss and ivy
accumulated upon him and stamped
with aspect of hOar antiquity.
We think the first of these visions
may have risen from reading Hoffman's
DEVILS Elixer," where there is an ac-
count of man who supposed he had a
double, or, in other words, was both
himself and not himself; and the Sec
Ond had perhaps its origin the Heather
Mythology, (he had the bOOks) a sub
ject to which he was extremely partial
and which abounds in stories of meta
mOrphOsis.
Such dreams from narcotics are re-
markable for their extravaganza and
exaggeratiOn beyond limits. We ex-
plain this double Inconsistencies of
personal identity of being asleep dur
ing the dreaming state, is referable to
quiescent condition of the reasoning
powers. The mind being wholly sub
ject to sceptre of other faculties, and
whatever emotions or images they ia
woke seem to be real, for want ola con-
trolling power to point out their char
acter, the will being in allegiance, the
mind was opened to internal and ex-
ternal suggestion, as thus:
You stood before me like thought
dream remembered in dream"
CHAs. d. GREEN, NJ. d.
KirklOOOd, DEL, NOU. goth, 1888.
Wonderful Cures.