Year: 1878

Although reform is the order of the
day hardly anything is said against the


almost universal use of tobacco nor of its


deleterious effect upon the human sys-


tenn. Occasionally some Temperance lee


turer includes it among the stimulants


to be avoided, but as general rule, the


pernicious habit is passed by in silence.


In the Popular Science Monthly of


November 1874, there was paper by Mr..


Francis Terry Fairchild in which he gave


with great minuteness, the details, of his


investigation of the effect of tobacco up


on himself Cooley, of the Ladies' Book,


in his review of the article, says, men


are inclined to believe that the opposi-


ton to smoking is woman's notion, but


Mr.. Francis 7. Fairchild is a we'll known


and celebrated professional man, and his
| investigations were conducted in a most


careful and rigorous manner. We have


not space for detail; sufficient to say that
| tremor, sleeplessness, bad dreams, craving


for stimulants. and general i'll health,


always attended the use of tobacco, and


always disappeared few days after the


cessation of the habit"


Mr.. Cooley further remarks "The disa-


greeable effects upon the senses of others,


produced by the tobacco user, it may be
III vain 10 lUSlSt upon.


And this is the point to which I wish


to draw attention the effects produced


upon those who are in close contact with


the tobacco user. For have had an ex-
perience so unexpected and startling,
that | should like to give it to the read
ers of the Rural, promising only that that
of which | write occurred before Mr..
Fairfield's investigations were published,
so | was not influenced in any manner
by anything had read


| had for a long time been troubled
with what called terrible nights, nights
spent with wide open staring eyes, or if
| slept at all, my sleep was filled with
such fearful dreams that felt as job did,
when he said Thou terrifest me with Wis
ions" The trouble eliminated after a
short illness that had left me in weak,
nervous state. Then terrors took hold
of me and my life became burden
However quiet and peaceful my days and
evenings were, as soon as | retired and
fell asleep, the most dreadful terrors as
sail me. l was plunging off a precipice
down, down, into utter darkness, or |
was being crushed under railroad train,
or l was drifting, alone in an open boat,
in the wide ocean at the mercy of the
wind and tide. Huge monsters of the
deep threatened me; the dreadful sea-
serpent lifted his awful head over me and
pierced me with his sinister eyes. The
cloud dark with tempest closed down
around me, while forked lightning lit up
the awful scene.


Horrible forms surrounded and crowd
ed upon me, fiends seemingly from Dan
te's Inferno leered and jeered and threat
ened me, until | awoke bathed in cold
sweat and trembling with fright to spend
the rest of the night trying to assure my
self that it was only dream.


These experiences were all the moro
strange as l am not timid but am natur-
ally strong and courageous. Physicians
were consulted, anodynes were prescribed
but without effect.


"The nights, just like the night before


In terror passed away:


Nor did the Demons vanish hence,


Until the break of day."


| noticed that sometimes, when away
from home, l slept well and so concluded
that something was amiss with my sleep
ing room. l re-papered and painted it,
but found no relief except at short inter-
walls, occasionally.


AT length we changed our place of res
idence and for some months l slept like
a child and congratulated myself that l
had left the cause of all my trouble in
our distant nome.


When upon retiring one night, tired
and sleepy, all the old terrors returned
and Oh the horrors of that night | can
not described.


In the morning, while thinking over
what had suffered the past night, sud
denly remembered that once, when l
turned to my husband for sympathy l
noticed faint odor of tobacco on his |
breath. The cause of all my trouble fash
ed in an instant upon me.


My husband is rather erratic in his |
habit of smoking; sometimes smoking a |
great deal and then not smoking at all |
for weeks or months, as the notion takes |
him, and l knew that he had not smoked |
for some time past Upon inquiry, he
said he had smoked the evening before.
Here, then was a revelation The odor |
Of tobacco when inhaled from his breath,
had the same effect upon me that opium
has upon others, with this exception, that
their sensations are sometimes of pleas
lreable nature, while mine were of the
opposite character.


Now l do not dislike the odor of tobac-
20. Indeed | rather like the smell of
good cigar and never thought of attribut-
ng my trouble to that Upon comparing
notes with my husband | found that in
every instance, as far as we could recol-
ect, my troublesome nights correspond
I'd with his seasons of smoking-my rest
ul ones with his abstinence from it.


To convince ourselves we tried exper-
ments and found invariably, that the
same cause produced the same effect
He, being rather incredulous, would
sometimes smoke away from home and
Keep at respectful distance after his re-
urn. l would retire unconscious that
le had done so only to spend the night
n misery. So the habit was abandoned
With some reluctance on his part | will
admit, but with good results for me-
,an count the time, not by weeks or
months, but years, in which my sleep has
oeen restful and quiet, undisturbed by
,he phantoms of diseased brain. Now,
f inhaling the odor of tobacco from the
lser's breath produced such an effect on
l strong, robust person, what may not be
It's effect on delicate women and child
rem?


We are called nation of nervous in
valids, and this is true of large proper
ton of our women, and may not the cause
be traced in some measure, to the almost
use of tobacco by husbands and
fathers 1t is said that the care of the
life and health of the men of the family
are entrusted to the women OF the house
hold and that the women should be able
to persuade their sons to abstain from all
as rule of healthy life. |
am afraid that it would be hard to per-
suade them against the constant example |
of their fathers.


1t also may be said that some foreign |
nations smoke moderately, and yet their |
women are healthy. l think it might
also be said that the women of those ma
tions spend most Of their time in the
open air and in many instances occupy
senarate sleenin g.ronms