Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-03
SUBSTITUTES FOR TOBACCO.
Worse Than the Weed Itself, Accord
ing to British Medical Authority,
From the Family Doctor.

| From the Family Doctor.
How would you enjoy a pipeful of wood
| shavings, saturated with a strong solution
| of pepper, as an after-dinner smoke?
| Strange as this may seem as a substitute
| for tobacco, it is nevertheless used as such
| by Indians along the Alaskan coast Their
mouths are often made raw by the prac.
/ tice, and the eyesight of many is affected
by the strong fumes. 1t is no uncommon
| practice among farmers to smoke the leaves
| of the tomato and potato plants While
| these plants both contain a narcotic poison,
| the smoking of leaves in moderation is
| harmless. Excessive use, though. produces
| heavy stupor, from which the smoker
| awakes with a terrific headache and a
feeling of utter exhaustion. Insanity and
| suicide have often been caused by the inn
moderate use of these two weeds. Rhu-
barb, beet and even garden sage leaves
are all smoked by farmers but are per-
haps the least harmful of substitutes for
tobacco
In Jamaica "ganjah" a variety of Indian
hemp is smoked by all classes with terrible
| results. 1t is stated that it was this weed
| that was used by the leaders of the Indian
mutiny to drive the sepoys into the pas.
s1ons of raging mania which they exhibited
| during that campaign. Ganjah smoking
affects the beginner in a peculiar way,
| While under its influence his senses Of time,
sound and distance obliterated. A
single minute may seem a month, a child's
voice sound like the rattle of a machine
gun, and little finger may seem nile
| long. Continued use" says the Spatula,
| causes cataleptic fits and eventually di3cy
or raving homicidal madness" "Cousfoot
tobacco is smoked by the rustics in small
country places in England, and Is called by
them the finest remedy on earth for ca
tarrh." 1t is simply a powdered form OF
the leaves of the common cotsfoot plant
found growing Wild in chalky soil. The
smoke causes no terrible after effects, all
though some say that it is Injurious to the
eyes. and it certainly does relieve difficult
breathing.
In Switzerland weed found growing in
the Alps, called mountain tobacco is smok.
ed in great quantities. Like "coltsfoot to-
bacco,' it is powdered before using, and
| causes the smoker to become a mental
and physical wreck. Dried holly leaves,
| the bark of the willow tree. and leaves Of
the stag's-horn sumach are all smoked by
the American Indians. and are the least
harmful of the substitutes for tobacco.
| Indian tobacco" or the leaf of a kind OF
lobelia, is smoked extensively, and Is ex>
species Of the lobelia, largely used In Asia,
| is smoked in water pipe, and produces
decidedly unpleasant odor. Those who
smoke it regularly become intensely nerv.
Gus, and are subject to curious hallucina.
TONS In the Bahamas cascarilla bark Is
another narcotic that destroys the health
and mind of the smoker. Natives OF 'cen-
trail America are inveterate users of pimen-
to tobacco, which they make from dried
pimento berries or allspice. 1t invariably
causes cancer of the tongue. The natives
of South Africa are affected in a peculiar
manner by the smoke from the dried leaves
of the camphor plant. The smoker trem-
bles with fright at nothing, weeps bitterly,
and uses all sorts of words which do not
in the least express his meaning. The wild
dagga another South African plant poisonA
slowly any who use it.