The Republican journal., 1903-01-29
SUBSTITUTES FOR TOBACCO.

Worse than the weed itself, according to
British Medical Authority.
How would you enjoy 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 practice, and the eye
sight of many is affected by the strong
fumes. 1t is no uncommon practice
among farmers to smoke the leaves of
the tomat and potato plants. While
these plants both contain a narcotic
poison, the smoking of leaves in moder-
alton, is harmless. Excessive use,
though, produces a heavy stupor, from
which the smoker aWakes with terrific
headache and feeling of utter exhaus-
ton. Insanity and suicide have often
been caused by the immoderate use OF
these two weeds. Rhubarb, beet and
even garden sage leaves are all smoked
by farmers, but are perhaps the least
harmful of substitutes for tobacco.
In Jamaica "ganjah," 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 passions of raging
mania which they exhibited during that
campaign Ganjah smoking affects the
beginner in peculiar way. While un-
der its influence his senses of time,
sound and distance are obliterated, a
single minute may seem a month,
child's voice sound like the rattle of a
machine gun, and a little finger may
seem mile long. Continued use"
says the Spatula, ''cauSeS cataIeptlc hts
and eventually idiocy or ravlng homl-
cidal madness" ''Coltsfoot tobacco
is smoked by the rustics in small coun-
try places in England, and is called by
them 'the finest remedy on earth for
catarrh" 1t is simply a powdered form
of the leaves Of the common coltstoot,
plant found growing wild in chalky
soil. The smoke causes no terrible after
effects, although some say that it IS in
furious to the eyes, and it certainly does
relieve difficult breathing.
In Switzerland weed found growing
in the Alps, called mountain tobacco, is
smoked in great quantities. Like ''colts-
foot tobacco" 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. "lndlan
tobacco" or the leaf of kind of To-
bella, is smoked extensively, and is ex-
tremely poisonous. ''Tombekl' :, another
species of the lobelia, largely used in
Asia, is smoked in a water pipe,
and produces a decidedly unpleasant
odor Those who smoke it regularly
become intensely nervous, and are
subject to curious hallucinations. In
the Bahamas cascarilla bark is
another narcotic that destroys the
health and mind of the smoker. Ma
tives of Central America are inveterate
! users of pimento tobacco, which they
make from dried pimento berries or all
spice. 1t invariably gives the smoker a
sore throat, and often causes cancer OF
tongue. The natives of South Africa
are affected in peculiar manner by the
smoke from the dried leaves of the
camphor plant. The smoker trembles
with fright at nothing, weeps bitterly,
! and uses I'LL sorts of words which do not
in the least express his meaning. The
wild dagga, another South African plant,
poisons slowly any who use 1.-THE
Family Doctor.