The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-02-04
THE RosE wITHouT IT'S THORN.


law to regulate and coIstTol t1em."
THE ROSE WITHOUT IT'S THORN.
The manufacture Of bricks without
straw is accepted as the synonym of I'M
redeemed folly. The old adage of eat
ing ones cake and having 1t is express
sive of the boatless wish Of the unthfnk-
the penalty which nature, attaches to all
it's gifts. Life soon teaches trusting
mortality the lesson Of the rose and It's
thorn. Balzac. in one Of his most power
full stories. THE Magic Skin" relates
the history of the young man who con-
sented that his life should be measured
by the duration of the magic skin, the
skin shrinking according to the extent
to which he made demand upon Its magf-
cal qualities beyond the actual needs of
q well ordered life. He took the skin on
many luxuries and INDUCED in much dis
sipatton When he afterwards studied
the extent to which the skin had shrunk
bringing him so much nearer to his
death, he paid the full penalty OF his In
diligence, as he did at intervals while
| the skin and his own life lasted. as he
| viewed the fatal consequences of his In
/ aulgenees. The story is. one of the mas
terpieces Of literature and teaches well
I the lesson of seif-fnduIgenee and Its
penalties
| But the huHldrum philosophy of The
Magic Skim and the rose and It's thorn
/ IS quite tedious to the average modern
man, and hence the search goes ON for
| the means Of dispensing with the penalty,
without disturbing the enjoyment. Nor
| can the search be said to have been who'll
| ly in vain, at least In one or two dtrec-
! lions. The announcement has Just been
| made by a deserving chemist. for in
! stance, that he has discovered the means
| whereby the man who smokes tobacco
| to excess may be. saved all the pains and
penalties of s3tis over-indulgence. The
poisonous nlcetine has furnished the text
| for many a more or less tedious sermon.
| But the smoker has gone on, throughout
| the ages, Drawing all the perfls- Of nice-
tine and taking the enjoyment of the
weed with It's poisonous exhalattons, and
! the cases are rare indeed where he has
shown himself amenable either to rea-
] son. science or fear.
= 2
/ It was, no doubt. the hope1essness Of
| looking for reform on the part of the
| smoker which has led the scientists to
carry on their researches SO penetrating
! lyatnto 1.-The domain of nicotine. For,
! while he who smokes may think like q.
philosopher. he's Is not given oVermuch
! to thinking of the. evils arising from nico-
tine; poisoning. And accordingly, the
men 81 science faye found way; to- re-
| ifese nicotine OF all IT'S poisonous quaii-
! ties and still enableit to preserve ali its
sedative qualities, for the confirmed
smoker. Tobacco without nicotine Is
something after the manner Of Hamlet
] minus Hamlet; and hence the robbing Of
| the nicotine of its poison, as the bee
! might be robbed of it's sting, has solved
the problem for. the man who wants to
smoke and, still preserve his nervous or
gaiization in a state Of perfect preserya-
/ ton.
i And if tobacco is thus to be robbed Of
! it's dangers, why may not science find
remedy for the confirmed topper as well as
| for the confirmed smoker? Why may the
I day not come when man may look on
| the wine while it is red for an almost
unlimited period of time and still keep
his sea legsf It the pipe bowl is to be
robbed of it's dangers. why not the flow
ing bowl? If alcohol Is food, as the wick
| ed scientists have Of late been insisting,
why may 1t not, like any other food, have
| It's injurious properties. If not wholly
eliminated. at feast made SO innocuous
that the sight of man as he struggles
along half seas over may be entirely I'M
known to the. future generations? Sci
enee has wrought wonderful transforma-
| tions these few years back; and who
knows but that 1t may find the short cut
ere long to the millennium of universal
teetotaiism? x
!