The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-11-10

pipe: and whoever has read "The Cricket
on the Hearth" will easily recognize a
smoker in Charles Dickens, when. speak
ing OF Dot. he SAYS: "She was out and
out tho very best filler OF apipc, | should
say. In the four quarters of tho globe.
To see her put that chubby little finger
in the bowl, and then blow down the
pipe to clear the tube, and when she had
done so, affect TO think that there really
was something in The tube, and blow
dozen times and hold 1t TO her eye like
telescope, with most provoking twist
i'm her capital little face, as she looked
down it. was quite brilliant thing. As
TO the tobacco, she was perfect mistress
Of the subject: and the lighting Of the
pipc with wisp OF paper, when the
Carrier had il in his mouth-going so
very near his nose, and yet not scorch-
inc twas Art, high Art"
The habits Of famous authors in re-
spcct 70 tho use Of tobacco are interest
ing. Milton never went TO bed without
his pipe and n glass Of water. Shake
spcare did not smoke, nor did Goethe
Shelley, Wordsworth. Keats. Addison
had a pipe in his mouth at all hours
After his daily dinner, Hobbies smoked
until after nightfall. Carlyle was
steady smoker for years. Tennyson has
pulled" at his pipe for nearly half
century. Sir Walter Scott smoked In
his carriage and regularly after dinner
and loved a short clay pipe. Byron
wrote about Sublime tobacco" but in
dulgcd in its use only moderately.
Douglas Jcrroli. Thackeray, Bayard
TAYLOR, Lord Lytton. Lord Houghton
and Campbell worked while putting CT
gars or pipss. Neither Washington
Irving nor Bryant used the weed in any
way. Coleridge, when cured Of his
opium habit, took 70 snuff, and Prescott,
the historian. when limited by his physi-
elan TO one cigar day, drove all over
Paris to buy the biggest one he could
find.
Pursuing tho subject further from a
professional point of view, the writer
asked Professor Mott what in his judg-
mcnt were tho best means of avoiding
injury from the excessive use Of the
weed?
81 should urge the smoker" no re-
piled, "to observe two conditions. First,
the quality Of the tobacco, and second, if
pipes are used. the quality of the pipe
and its stem. Nicotine takes its name
from Jean Moot, who introduced tobacco
into France in 1860. and in its poisonous
power is scarcely inferior TO prussic acid.
Some tobaccos contain about . per cent,
others 6, and some nearly Z. 1t is rare,
however, that a hundred pounds OF the
Try leaf yields more than seven pounds
of nicotine. In smoking a hundred
grains of tobacco, therefore, say quar-. |
ter Of an ounce, it il possible to draw !
into the mouth two grains or moro of the /
most subtle Of poisons. but the proportion
will vary with the variety, the rapidity /
of smoking. the length Of the pipe, the I
material of which it is made, and other
an most oriental countries where 1
smoking ia a constant habit, the natives /
use long stensmed pipes in which tine |
leaf burns slowly, added to which is /
bowl containing perfumed water, or
other liquid, through which the smoke
passes, leaving behind part of its pois-
on0us vapor. The reservoirs OF some Of |
the German pipes are death traps, be-
cause they retain tho grosscr portions Of
the tobacco, while the cigar discharges
directly into the mouth all that results
from the combustion of the weed. You
will understand, therefore, that good
pipe should be porous, like the Powha-
tan clay or corncob. with an ample
bowl that permits frequent cleaning, and
with long stem Of absorbent quality
that will take up the gummy-likc refuse
Of the burned tobacco and the worst Of
the poisonous elements Of the nicotine
Besides, short pipe which discharges
its fumes directly into the eyes and nos
trils is injurious to the sight.
"As TO the qualities of tobacco, these
depend on the honesty Of the manufac.
lurer. Turkish is Of course reckoned the
best. The pure American, when una
with sumac leaves, straw, tea,
mullen and scores of other substances
that are employed to increase bulk or
add to the flavor, will rank next; but
such mas Of filthy stuff is now being
foisted on he con 'ounity and sold by
The aid Of chromos and other arts OF the
advertiser that it is well nigh impossible
TO detect the false from the true. ! do
not pretend to be a connoisseur in these
however, concluded the doc.
.or, "and what | have mentioned are
simply the iac:s familiar to all physicians
who have studied the subject"
I. q. DE FONTAINE