Health. Tract. ZVo. 4. STARTLING FACTS ABOUT TOBACCO; ---OB--- THIRTY UNANSWERABLE OBJECTIONS TO T0BA000-U8ING. Tobacco Ruins a Man Physically, Mentally, and Morally; it is a Social Nuisance and a National Curse. PHYSICAL EVILS. 1. Tobacco la a Deadly Poiaon. One hundred ounces of Virginia tobacco contain seven ounces of mcotme, a poisonous oil whose deadly properties are second to no other known substance but prussic acid A single drop placed on a cat’s tongue produces death in two minutes! The vapor alone will kill a large cat. Many cases of death have occurred as the result of applying to a cut or bruise a little of this oil from an old pipe. Its application to the skin as an ointment has frequently been fatal. It is to the presence of this terrible poison that all the virtues of tobacco are due; and it has been estimated that the amount of poison contained in the annual crop of tobacco is sufficient to exterminate all animal life from the globe if rightly administered. The reason why tobacco-users do not die immediately is because they do not take the poison in fatal doses. But it is no less sure in its results. Like opium, arsenic, strychnine, corrosive sublimate, and other poi- *2 STARTLING FACTS sons, it may be tolerated in gradually increasing doses, for many years; but its sure and awful consequences come at last, and, indeed, are manifested all along to him who has learned to discern them. A single cigar contains poison sufficient to kill two men, if concentrated. Hundreds of cases of fatal poisoning by tobacco might be cited from numerous medical works. Only a few years ago a homicide was committed in England, by means of nicotine, the murderer crowding a few drops of the oil into the mouth of his victim. 2. Tobacco-Using Is an Unnatural Habit. There is not one man in fifty who cannot remember the peculiar effect of the first quid of tobacco he placed in his mouth, or the first pipe he essayed to smoke; and we hazard nothing in premising that the remembrance of that experience recalls anything but pleasant sensations. When a lad makes his first attempt at tobacco poisoning, what do we observe? A deathly pallor overspreads his face; his head swims; a feeling of indescribable agony seizes upon him; he reels, perhaps falls, and sheepishly drags himself away into some secluded nook where he can enjoy the beauties of tobacco unobserved and unmolested, meanwhile beguiling the agonizing hours with the amusing pastime of rolling on the grass, or the more serviceable one of tickling his throat with a feather to induce his stomach to turn out what he has himself put in. How would it be possible for nature to express in more forcible terms her repugnance to the filthy weed ? Does she not say, in language unmistakable, I have no use for tobacco ? there is no room "for it in my dominion? it interferes ABOUT TOBACCO. 3 with my operations ? do not insult me with the disgusting, poisonous stuff ? Very rarely, indeed, can a man be found who did not have to learn to use tobacco. This alone is sufficient evidence of its anti-vital, unnatural character; and whatever is unnatural, that is, repugnant to natural, unperverted tastes, is evidently a thing unfit to minister to the wants of the human body. 3. Tobacco-Using Is a Great Cause of Intemperance. The most observant workers in the temperance cause tell us that they seldom find a whisky drinker who is not also addicted to the use of tobacco. The significance of this fact is apparent. Tobacco is stimulating. At first, a small quantity will produce the desired effect. Pretty soon, as the system becomes accustomed to its presence so that it is in a measure tolerated, a larger quid or an extra cigar is found to be necessary. After a time, it is found very difficult with any amount of tobacco to obtain that degree of stimulation necessary to make the individual feel natural, and so some form of alcohol is resorted to, and the concluding step toward drunkenness is taken. Yes ; tobacco-using is the broad road which leads to drunkenness; and it is a failure to recognize this fact which has been one of the chief agents in rendering so futile the attempts of our well-meaning and energetic temperance reformers in combating the great foe of society and religion—intemperance. Thousands of men have been won from the paths of drunkenness and restored to society as useful members; but a few months later found them the same infatuated victims of strong drink as formerly. Why 4 STARTLING FACTS did they fall ? The insatiable thirst for the fiery draught, the maddening desire for stimulation, was kept alive by the use of tobacco, and they became an easy prey to their besetting sin. Drunkenness can never be cured until tobaccousing is eradicated from the land. 4. Tobacco Intoxicates. Alcohol is not the only agent which will produce intoxication. Inebriation is as plainly the consequence of tobacco-using as of whisky-drinking. To be drunk it is not essential that a person should be wholly delirious or insensible. There are all degrees of drunkenness; and when a man takes into his system any given quantity of either tobacco or alcohol, he is drunk, just in proportion to the dose. A man is just as truly drunk when he has taken only sufficient tobacco to produce a feeling of pleasant exhilaration as when he has taken so much whisky that he will courtesy to a lamp post, and go to bed in the gutter. The difference is only in degree. No man can be wholly himself—entirely sane, we may say, while under the influence of any narcotic or stimulant. 5. Tobacco-Using a Greater Evil than Whisky-Drinking. So said the presiding officer at a great temperance convention in New York; so says the eminent Dr. Parker, of the same city; and so will all agree who recognize the true relation existing between tobacco and alcohol. Why do we make the astounding claim that the use of the narcotic weed is an evil even surpassing that stupendous and most deplorable vice—intemperance ? We answer, ABOUT TOBACCO. 5 1. Tobacco hills more than alcohol, as can be proven by good medical authority. 2. Tobacco-using, as already shown, is one of the chief causes of intemperance. * 3. To reform a tobacco-user is a task doubly greater than the reformation of a drunkard. Tobacco is not so violent in its effects as is alcohol ; but it is far more insidious and fatal. As an eminent temperance worker, a physician, once said, “ Tobacco is as much worse than liquor as palsy is worse than fever.” 6. The Use of Tobacco Lessens Muscular Power. Experience has demonstrated in the most conclusive manner that tobacco-using is entirely incompatible with the most perfect development of muscular strength and activity. The boat clubs of both English and American colleges recognize this fact, and wholly interdict its use by their members. It is also denied to athletes who are training for an exhibition of their strength or agility. It is also well known that tobacco destroys the appetite for food, so that a quantity inadequate to maintain the bodily vigor will yet be sufficient to satisfy^the appetite. Old smokers have often been known to substitute, from choice, a pipe of tobacco for a wholesome dinner. The effect of this influence must be very evident. The effects of tobacco upon the Turks, who are inveterate smokers, is seen in their remarkable physical degeneracy. Once they were among the most courageous and warlike of nations. Now they are cowardly, weak, and effeminate, having smoked away their former hardihood and physical superiority. 6 STARTLING FACTS 7. Tobacco-Using Bums the Voice. Many a fine speaker or singer has sacrificed his greatest charm upon the shrine of this somniferous god. Hundreds of preachers have left their charges and gone abroad for their health, suppos- ' ing that they had ruined their vocal organs by their energetic exhortations and earnest appeals in behalf of piety, when the sole cause was their own reprehensible indulgence in cigars or “ fine cut.” 8. Tobacco Destroys the Healthy Acuteness of the Senses. Who ever heard of a tobacco-chewer who possessed remarkable delicacy of taste ? The delicate nerves which are especially designed for detecting the flavors of substances, are soon blunted, if not wholly destroyed, when constantly insulted with the pungent, acrid flavor of tobacco. We once saw a man whose gustatory sense had become so nearly obliterated that he could scarcely excite it by tickling his palate with a glass of pepper sauce, which he quaffed with as much nonchalance as though it had been the mildest claret. Smoking and snuff-taking, especially the latter, are fetal to the olfactory sense, the nose losing almost entirely its utility as an organ of smell. Deafness and blindness are, likewise, not infrequent results of tobacco-using in its various forms. 9. The Use of Tobacco Benders People more Subject to the Influence of Contagions and Epidemics. Tobacco is anti-vital; and, hence, its use is devitalizing. It wastes the vital power, and tears down the defenses of the system, laying it ABOUT TOBACCO. 7 open to the inroads of malaria, contagion, or any other of the immediate causes of disease. An eminent writer in a popular magazine, although himself a user of tobacco, acknowledges that, while for some years a resident of the tropics, he observed that abstainers from tobacco were the only Europeans who escaped the ravages of fever in a district where it prevailed extensively. He also noticed that “ smokers were the chosen victims of cholera, and intermittent and yellow fevers.” 10. Tobacco-Using Spreads Contagion. Many instances have occurred in which the infection which gave rise to one of the most direful and hopeless of malignant diseases, was traced directly to cigars which were manufactured by diseased persons. Not long since, an occurrence of this nature attracted attention to a large Chinese tobacco factory in San Francisco. Upon inspection by a physician, it was found that a number of the hands were almost putrid with that terrible disease which is the penalty of vice, and which is unknown except among civilized nations. 11. Tobacco-Using Leads to Premature Death. Anything which saps vitality, and undermines the constitution, must shorten life. That tobacco does this would be expected from its very nature; and experience fully confirms the fact. 12. Tobacco Is the Direct Cause of Many Serious and Some Incurable Diseases. We do not say that tobacco is the cause of all diseases, or that it is the immediate cause of a hundred maladies, although it may truthfully be regarded as a predisposing cause of almost all 8 STARTLING FACTS the ills to which flesh is subject. We only enumerate those diseases which are primarily due to the pernicious influence of the drug. Consider the terrible list, every one of which is attributed by good medical authority to the use of tobacco:— 1. Cancer of the stomach, lips, tongue, cheek, nose, and pancreas; 2. Apoplexy; 3. Paralysis; 4. Dyspepsia; 5. Consumption; 6. Impotency; 7. Torpid liver; 8. Diarrhea; 9. Asthma; 10. Constipation; 11. Delirium tremens; 12. Imbecility; 13. Incurable ulcers of mouth, throat, lips, and tongue; 14. Congestion of the brain; 15. Palsy; 16. Piles; 17. Heart disease; 18. Nervousness; 19. Blindness; 20. Vertigo; 21. Sore throat; 22. Epilepsy; 23. Deafness; 24. Loss of memory; 25. Sleeplessness; 26. Necrosis of the maxillary bone; 27. Neuralgia; 28. Locomotor ataxia; 29. Rheumatism; 30. Angina pectoris. Here we have thirty most appalling diseases, all of which can be traced directly to the use of tobacco, and each of which might be illustrated by numerous clinical cases cited in medical works. Who is willing to run the risk of contracting any of these diseases ? The person who is, will inevitably find himself a victim of one or more of them. MENTAL EVILS. 13. The Use of Tobacco Destroys Manliness and Resolution. We have already referred to the Turks as an example of what tobacco will do in this direction; but we see equally well marked cases all about us. What a spectacle of palsied resolution, enervated will, and shattered firmness, do we be- ABOUT TOBACCO. 9 hold in the poor slave to tobacco, who, when endeavoring to escape from its thralldom, exclaimed, in hopeless despair, “ Alas! I need tobacco to give me resolution to fight tobacco!” 14. Tobacco-Using Weakens the Intellect. It is now a universally admitted truth that perfect mental health and strength can only exist with a corresponding physical condition; hence, anything which weakens the body must enervate the mind as well. A few years ago, the superintendent of public instruction in France issued a circular forbidding the use of tobacco in any form by the students throughout the empire on the ground “ that the physical as well as the intellectual development of many youths has been checked” by its use. Accurate observation and comparison of the proficiency of students in our best colleges have shown that those who abstain from the use of tobacco always rank higher in scholarship than those who are addicted to its use. We do not wish to intimate that all tobacco-users are fools; some minds are so brilliant that they shine in spite of the befogging, stupefying influence of narcotism. But men of lesser genius cannot afford thus to waste and obscure their abilities. Who can tell how much greater might have been the achievements of such men as Locke, Addison, and Johnson, had their minds been untrammeled by the fetters of the tobacco habit ? Who will say that the glory of their lives might not have shone with a brighter luster had it not been partially eclipsed by a debasing, debilitating, devitalizing, dementating habit ? 10 STARTLING FACTS 16. Tobacco-Using Destroys Fineness of Feeling and Sentiment. As already observed, tobacco-using exerts a most destructive influence upon the physical senses, often quite obliterating four of the five great avenues of sensibility. Its influence is still more insalutary upon the far more delicate organs of emotion and sentiment which are so readily affected by physical changes in the body. Alcohol is bad enough; but it only temporarily perverts the imagination and the judgment. Tobacco does more. Its influence is constant and accumulative. It not only perverts, but weakens and paralyzes. It changes a kind-hearted, sociable, sympathetic man into a selfish, irritable, repulsive, unappreciative despot, who will never hesitate to sacrifice the comfort, convenience, health, even life, of his wife or child to the gratification of his debasing appetite. 18. Tobacco Is a Tyrant. Eveiy man who allows himself to contracfthe tobacco habit yields his liberty, his personal freedom, into the hands of a despot whose tyranny knows no bounds. Of this, he is usually unaware until he tries to break the fetters of habit, and free himself from its blighting influence, when he finds himself grasped by the powerful hand of appetite, his resolution destroyed, and his courage daunted. The following lines by a tobacco-user will well illustrate the forlorn condition of a slave to the vile habit:— “ For thy sake, tobacco, I Would do anything but die.” This infatuated devotee of tobacco, in company with thousands of others, although not ex- ABOUT TOBACCO. 11 pressing his willingness to do so, doubtless did even yield his life to his god, tobacco. 17. Tobacco-Using Is a Frequent Cause of Imbecility and Insanity. This is the testimony of many eminent medical men, and is confirmed by the observation of the superintendents and physicians of insane asylums. Numerous instances might be cited of intelligent, talented individuals who became insane from the use of tobacco, and were only cured by a discontinuance of the habit. In one insane asylum in Massachusetts, there were eight patients who were victims of tobacco-using. In another asylum were found, at one time, three insane clergymen, who clamored incessantly for the poison which had dethroned their reason, beseeching every visitor in the most pitiful tones for tobacco. Statisticians tell us that, since the use of tobacco was introduced among civilized nations, all forms of nervous diseases have increased greatly; is not the cause apparent ? MORAL EVILS. 18. Tobacco-Using Is a Sin. Every law in the universe is obligatory, and not one can be disregarded without committing sin. Is not sin "the transgression of the law,” according to Holy Writ ? Why should we make so wide a distinction between moral and physical laws as to regard the strict observance of one a sacred duty, while the other is treated as a matter of convenience or pleasure ? Surely, there can be no satisfactory answer. But the vice of tobacco-using is a direct transgression of 12 STARTLING FACTS the moral law, as well as of physical law; for the man who consciously indulges in a habit which he knows must result in premature death commits a suicide just as effectually as does he who puts a knife to his throat or ends his life by a pistol shot. 19. Tobacco-Using Is Barbarous. It is a custom which originated with the savage barbarians of North America, from whom it was communicated to the rest of the world by the first discoverers of this continent. What a humiliating spectacle, when we behold civilization sitting at the feet of barbarism and learning to smoke! When we think for a moment of the terrible effects of this dreadful vice, for such it really is, we are almost forced to the conclusion that humanity had been fortunate if America, with all its wealth of forests, prairies, and mines, together with its poison, tobacco, had remained the same unknown, untilled wilderness which it was when Columbus first turned his adventurous face toward the setting sun. Is it not a sad breach of morals for Christians to imitate the vices of savages ? 20. Tobacco Stupefies the Moral Sensibilities. One of the most marked effects of the continued use of tobacco is its stupefying effect upon the moral faculties. It is, in fact, a sort of spiritual narcotic. The man who uses it for many years often becomes gradually deficient in moral sense. At least, his acute perception of right and wrong becomes materially lessened. It is an absolute impossibility for a man who indulges largely in tobacco to be as good a Christian as he might ABOUT TOBACCO. 13 be if he was free from the habit. This is the testimony of hundreds of reformed tobacco-users. 21. Tobacco Excites the Passions, and so Leads to Crime. Like all other stimulants, tobacco excites the animal passions; and as it at the same time, to a certain extent, deprives the individual of his ordinary soundness of judgment, he has two concurrent and powerful influences to lead him to the commission of whatever base act the circumstances of the moment may prompt. Again, deprive of his tobacco a man habituated to its use; how irritable, nervous, impulsive, does he become! He loses all control of his actions; and the slightest provocation will make him desperate. He is unsafe; insane, in fact. SOCIAL EVILS. 22. Tobacco-Using Is a Filthy Habit. Yes; it is notoriously filthy and disgusting to every one except the individual who indulges it. We need not describe the reeking filth of a tavern bar-room, or a smoking car, for there is no person with the slightest love for neatness and cleanliness who has not a hundred times been offended by forced contact with the results of tobacco-using in some of the many detestable ways in which they occur. A tobacco-user not only presents a most revolting spectacle of defilement m himself, but he renders foul and offensive everything that comes in contact with him. He always leaves a dirty mark behind him—shall we say as a fitting memento of his character ? Perhaps that would be a little too hard; but may it not be that constant association with filth will u STARTLING FACTS make some disagreeable modifications in a man's character ? A man who will be a slave to tobacco not only ruins himself—his health, his mind—but he inflicts a most intolerable nuisance upon society. 23. Tobacco Taints the Breath. It may be suggested that this objection does not amount to much, in these days when almost every persons breath is redolent with something —emanations from decaying teeth, foul odors from a sour stomach, putrid smells from an ulcerated nasal cavity, or something equally offensive. But we protest that these are bad enough alone; and when they are reinforced and augmented by the pungent, fetid odor of tobacco, a climax of foulness is reached which is wholly beyond description, and needs only to be once experienced to be fully appreciated. Times without number, almost, have we been forced to turn away with sickening disgust when conversing with a person whose breath fell upon us freighted with its vap-oiy poison. In more than one instance has the dying invalid turned more ghastly pale as he waved from his presence the minister who came to offer words of consolation, but brought with him the nauseating effluvia of tobacco. 24. Tobacco Defiles the Air. Even the very atmosphere surrounding a tobacco-user is laden with a characteristic fetor. Every pore of his skin is sending out a stream of the poison, while each expiration of air from his lungs pollutes his immediate neighborhood with its innate nastiness. And if the person is a smoker, the evil is increased tenfold; for it seems to be the special avocation of the smoker ABOUT TOBACCO. 15 to contaminate as much as possible of the pure air of heaven with his vile drug, thus forcing it upon the most repugnant, for we must breathe or die. What right has any person to thus poison the “breath of life”? How long would a man be permitted to scatter broadcast the poisonous gerips which communicate small-pox or scarlet fever? Yet tobacco kills more persons every year than both these maladies combined. What a blessing to humanity would be the revival of the old puritanic law which would not allow a man to smoke within ten miles of any house, and then not in the presence of a stranger. A slight vestige of that* law still exists in the city ordinance of Boston, which interdicts all smoking upon the streets. 25. Tobacoo-Using Enervates Offspring, and so Threatens the Race with Extinction. If tobacco-using should increase during the next two hundred years as rapidly as it has done in the last period of that length, it would become a universal vice. Then would vanish the last hope for the race; ultimate extinction would be inevitable. It often occurs, and, indeed, is true as a rule, that the worst effects of the use of tobacco are not seen in the man who indulges the habit, but appear in his children. Whence came such a vast army, of nervous, sickly, yellow-faced young ladies? Inquire, and learn that their fathers were tobacco-users, and you have the secret. Improper diet, fashionable dress, lack of exercise, and other unhygienic influences may receive their due share of condemnation for producing such poor specimens of humanity as are these 1G STARTLING FACTS useless, “ vapory,” hysterical creatures; but when we find that their troubles began with the very first day of their existence, that they were as hysterical in their cradles as ever afterward, we must look for some hereditary cause; and we find it in the fathers who poured out their children’s vitality in reeking streams of tobacco juice, and puffed it away in clouds of odorous smoke. A terrible inheritance of constitutional weakness, nervous debility, and general incapacity for enjoyment, does the tobacco-using father entail upon his children. Most strikingly applicable are the words of Ezekiel, “ The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” With reference to the same subject, the renowned Sir Benjamin C. Brodie said, “ No evil is so manifestly visited upon the third and fourth generations as the evils which spring from the use of tobacco.” 26. Tobacco-Using Fosters and Engenders Indolence. The habitual user of tobacco can scarcely escape the almost irresistible tendency to indolence which his habit engenders. It first wastes his muscles and makes nim less fitted for active, energetic labor; then it benumbs his senses so that he becomes averse to activity and delights to linger in the fascinating, dreamy condition of half-unconscious stupidity into which the somniferous drug introduces him. Tobacco-using is a most prolific parent of laziness. Banish cigars, and every other form of tobacco, and how soon would the loafers vanish from our street comers and alleys! ABOUT TOBACCO. 17 POLITICAL EVILS. 27. Tobacco Is a Useless Expense. Worse than useless are the millions of dollars annually expended for this poisonous weed. Only think for a moment that Christian England spent last year for a filthy, Indian weed more than all her subjects did for bread; meanwhile, her great cities and poor-houses are filled with half-famished paupers! More than $40,000,000 every year are worse than wasted by both England and France to satisfy the demand for something with which to defile the body, ruin the intellect, and assist the soul to perdition. America is no wiser. The amount annually expended by the world for tobacco is not less than $500,000,000. At this rate the whole value of the globe would be expended in a century. Nor in these estimates is any account taken of the immense profit which would accrue if the capital and labor expended in the cultivation and manufacture of tobacco were applied in some useful occupation. 28. Tobacco-Baising Exhausts the Soil. No other plant makes such enormous drafts upon the soil as does tobacco. Gen. John H. Cooke, of Virginia* says, on this point, “ Tobacco exhausts the land beyond all other crops. As proof of this, every homestead from the Atlantic border to the head of tide-water is a mournftjl monument. It has been the besom of destruction which has swept over the whole of this*once fertile region.” The farmers of the Connecticut valley begin to see the same impending ruin staring them in the Start. Fact*. 18 STARTLING FACTS face, and are eagerly seeking for some fertilizer which will maintain the fruitfulness of their soil. They have recently found an excellent one in com meal! So now we have a double waste. Ruinous economy! 29. Tobacco-Using Diminishes National Vigor, and Impedes Civilisation. It is quite easy to see how the tobacco habit should diminish national vigor, from its influence upon posterity, as already noticed. The Turks, who smoke almost incessantly, are an excellent example of its national influence in this respect. Said the eminent Brodie, physician to the queen of England and president of the Royal Society, “ I cannot entertain a doubt that if we could obtain accurate statistics, we should find that the value of life in smokers is considerably below the average/' Being a scion transplanted from barbarism, it should be naturally expected that it would impede civilization by its growth. And does it not ? How could it work all the mischief already proved upon it and do otherwise ? 30. The Culture and Manufacture of Tobacco Undermines the most Valuable Resources of the Nation. Agriculture and manufacturing are the two chief sources of a nation's material prosperity. When these avenues of wealth are closed, bankruptcy and ruin are inevitable. When tobaccoraising usurps the place of the raising of wheat, com, cotton, and other useful crops in our fertile valleys, does it not plant its cloven foot directly in the way of permanent prosperity ? And when the capital which might be employed in the useful arts and trades is invested in the manufacture ABOUT TOBACCO. 19 of tobacco, is it not really placed in a bank which promises nothing but ultimate bankruptcy ? And are not the thousands employed in these manufactories unwisely withdrawn from useful and honorable avocations ? In France the tobacco trade is made a government monoply; and as long ago as 1844 there were 10,000 officials employed in the management of it, or receiving pensions as retired officers. Holland has 1,000,000 sallow, sickly individuals engaged in the manufacture of tobacco; and the United States employs 40,000 persons in manufacturing the weed which exhausted 400,000 acres of the richest land in its cultivation. WHAT WILL YOU DO? Tobacco-user, what are you going to do in the face of this long array of facts, every one of which is sustained by science, experience, and common sense ? Will you pass them lightly by, and say, “ Tobacco does n't hurt me; and besides, I can’t do without it”? Will you deceive yourself because you have not yet felt all the woful consequences of your habit, and still remain a slave to this most relentless tyrant? If you so decide, you will have for your consolation the reflection that whatever your desires, however lofty your aspirations, or exemplary your conduct in other respects, in the one vice of tobacco-using you are not only ruining your own prospects for this world, and perhaps the next, but you are dragging down with you your offspring, and all who may be so unfortunate as to follow your example; besides being a constant source of offense to every person of delicate instincts or pure tastes who may be so unfortunate as to associate with you. 20 STARTLING FACTS HOW TO OVERCOME THE HABIT. This is the great problem with those who have become convinced that duty to themselves, to their families, and to society, demands that they should abandon the habit which has become almost inseparably fastened upon them by long indulgence ; and it is a very important one, for upon its solution depends the ultimate triumph and emancipation of the tobacco slave, or his more hopeless enslavement. Quite a number of substitutes have been recommended as aids in combating the appetite for tobacco, chief among which is gentian; but they are all alike worthless. Nothing but a firm determination, an unyielding resolution, will avail. Anything which will operate as a substitute must produce somewhat similar effects to those occasioned by tobacco itself; and, consequently, is objectionable on the same grounds. Shall the change be made at once ? or may the habit be abandoned by degrees ? This question has occasioned much discussion, and opinion seems to be somewhat divided; but our best authorities say, “Abandon the foul thing at once and forever.” Experience seems to support this position; for it has been found that a person who adopts the plan of gradual diminution really suffers more in the aggregate than the person who at once discards entirely the use of the weed, although the latter suffers more intensely for a brief period. This has also been found to be the case with liquor-drinking. Do not make the attempt as an experiment. Consider it carefully, candidly, reasonably. Calmly view the terrible consequences which ABOUT TOBACCO. 21 persistence in tlie habit must bring, not only to yourself, but to your children. Weigh, carefully, all the arguments which have been advanced in the preceding pages, and such others as your own experience may supplement. Then enter upon the conflict with a deep sense of the solemn duty which you are under the deepest obligations to discharge. Never for once think of anything but victory. Remove temptation from yourself as far as possible. Are you a Christian ? Then do not fail to avail yourself of that never-failing source of strength which none but the Christian enjoys. By means of the encouragement and assistance which religion affords, many a poor victim of the tobacco habit has been reclaimed who had struggled in vain with his vice when only assisted by his own enervated will and palsied resolution. Attention to the general habits is of the utmost importance as an element of success. The nervous system has been shattered by long abuse; and when the stimulating influence of tobacco is withdrawn, the unhappy individual soon finds what mischief has been wrought. He quickly ascertains his real status, the actual strength of his nervous organization. When he finds himself thus brought down to his true level, what should he do ? Would it be wise for him to stimulate his flagging energies with strong tea or coffee, a little wind or brandy ? This would be only hiding the real condition without remedying it. Stimulation is just what has worked all this mischief. No. Avoid stimulation most carefully. Give the poor nervous sufferer rest—rest of both body and mind. A man who has been long accustomed to the use of tobacco should not attempt 22 STARTLING FACTS to pursue his customary avocations when leaving off his habit. He will be fretful, irritable, vacillating, "all out of sorts,” perhaps a little "flighty,” or even delirious. He must have such associations as will be calculated to counteract these conditions. Surround him with cheerful society and pleasant diversions, so that his mind may be drawn from himself and his morbid sensations, until nature has time to re-arrange her disturbed functions and marshall her scattered forces. The patient should eat rather sparingly, a light diet of pleasant and nutritious fruits and grains being preferable. A warm bath three or four times a week should be administered. When he feels more than usually restive, with headache and general discomfort, a warm foot-bath with the application of cloths wet in hot water to the head will be quite certain to give relief. A few days of patient perseverance in this course will result in a complete emancipation of the most inveterate tobacco-user. More than one or two weeks are never required. A change of air and scenery, recreation, and moderate exercise, are very useful auxiliaries in the effort to overcome the tobacco habit. What Eminent Men'Think About Tobaoeo. In the preceding pages, very little authority has been cited, for the sake of brevity. In order to assure the reader that an abundance of the most reliable authority is not wanting to support the propositions advanced, the remaining pages of this tract are devoted to quotations and citations of the opinions of eminent medical and other professional men. Says Dr. Pratt, "Surely, if the dictates of reason were allowed to prevail, an article so injuri- ABOUT TOBACCO. 23 ous to the health, and so offensive in all its forms and modes of employment, would speedily be banished from common use/' Sir Benjamin C. Brodie, president of the Royal Society, says that one of the worst cases of neuralgia he ever saw was caused by tobacco-using, and ceased with the habit. The same author says that the habit produces amaurosis, and mentions cases in which the patient recovered upon discontinuing the use of tobacco. Dr. Rush said, in reference to tobacco, “ It produces dyspepsia." “ It imparts to the complexion a disagreeable, dusky color." The Half-Yearly Abstract of the Medical Sciences for 1854 describes a case of angina pectoris resulting from tobacco-using. Professor Lizars, in an excellent work on tobacco, says that its constitutional effects are “ numerous and varied, consisting of giddiness, sickness, vomiting, dyspepsia, vitiated taste of the mouth, loose bowels, diseased liver, congestion of the brain, apoplexy, palsy, mania, loss of memory, amaurosis, deafness, nervousness, emasculation, and cowardice." Dr. Johnson adds the following as local disaeses resulting from tobacco-using: “ Ulceration of the lips (not unfrequently of a syphilitic character), ulceration of the gums, cheeks, mucous membrane of the mouth, throat, tonsils, etc." Dr. Johnson again says, “ What is the testimony of facts ? Why, for one inveterate smoker who will bear testimony favorable to the practice, ninety-nine such of the candid of these, are found to declare their belief that this practice is injurious." u FACTS ABOUT TOBACCO. An able writer in the Quarterly Journal of Science says, in reference to tobacco: “ Tobacco belongs to the class of narcotic and exciting substances, and has no food value. Stimulation means abstracted, not added, force. It involves the narcotic paralysis of a portion of the functions, the activity of which is essential to healthy life.” “ Tobacco adds no potential strength to the human frame. It may spur a weary brain or feeble arm to endure exertion for a short time, but its work is destructive, not constructive.” Scores of other great names might be added to the eminent medical authorities already quoted; but our space will only allow the addition of the following facts with reference to how tobacco was regarded in its early history:— When first introduced into Russia, tobacco-using was punished by cutting off the nose. In Turkey it was made a capital offense, as also in Persia. A Turk found smoking in Constantinople was led through the city with his nose transfixed by his pipe. Pope Urban fulminated a bull of excommunication against users of it. It was punished as an evil crime in Switzerland. In 1616, King James of England published a “ Counterblast to Tobacco,” in which he says of the habit, “A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.” 4^* For Prices, see the annexed CATALOGUE. Address, HEALTH BEFOBMEB, Battle Creek, Mich, HEALTH IS HAPPINESS! BOOKS! EEFOBMER! INSTITUTE! The Hygienic Family Physician. As the title suggests, this work is especially designed for family use. The style in which it is written is such as to render it perfectly intelligible to all classes, as it is quite free from technical terms and phrases, which in nearly all books of this kind that have previously appeared, are of such frequent occurrence as to render them more or less objectionable. It is, nevertheless, “ a complete guide for the preservation of health and the treatment of disease without the use of medicine.” The directions which it contains for the treatment of disease, are bo plain and minute that any person of ordinary intelligence with its assistance may successfully treat nine-tenths of all the cases of disease which occur in any neighborhood. Cloth, bound, 380 pp. Price, post-paid, 81.00. The following four pamphlets contain the larger portion of the bound work just noticed. Good Health, and How to Preserve It.—In this pamphlet is given a brief treatise on the various hygienic agents and/conditions which are essential for the preservation of health. Just the thing for a person who wishes to learn how to avoid disease.—Price, post-paid, 10 cts. Disease and Drags.—This work is a clear and comprehensive exposition of the nature and true cause of disease, and also exposes the absurdity and falsity of drug medication.—Price, post-paid, 15 cts. The Bath: Its Use and Application.—This very valuable work contains a full description of the various baths 26 BOOKS. employed in the hygienic treatment of disease, together with the manner of applying them, and the diseases to which they are severally adapted.—Price, post-paid, 20 cts. The Treatment of Disease.—In this most important work may be found an accurate description of the symptoms and proper treatment of more than one hundred diseases. It is an invaluable work for all who are not professionally educated in the theory and practice of medicine. The only remedies recommended are of course strictly hygienic in their nature.—Price, post-paid, 35 cts. The Hygienic System. By R. T. Trail, M. D.— This important work treats upon the Principles of Hygienic Medication—The Essential Nature of Disease—The Modus Operandi of Medicine, and kindred topics. It should be read by the million.—Price, post-paid, 15 cts. Health and Diseases of Woman. By R. T. Trail, M. D.—This work treats upon a great variety of subjects, all of which are of vital interest to every woman and every girl in the land. It should be in every family.— Price, post-paid, 15 cts. Tobacco-Using.—By R. T. Trail, M. D.—This is a Philosophical Exposition of the Effects of Tobacco on the Human System.—Price, post-paid, 15 cts. Science of Homan Life.—This is a pamphlet of great value, containing the most important and interesting portions of Graham’s Lectures on the Science of Human Life. —Price, post-paid, 35 cts. Hand Book of Health.—A treatise upon Physiology and Hygiene.—Price, post-paid, bound in cloth, 60 cts. ; in paper cover, 35 cts. Hygienic Cook Book.—This work comprises receipts for the preparation of hygienic food, directions for canning fruit, &c., advice relative to diet, and much other valuable information.—Price, post-paid, 25 cts. Proper Diet for Man.—A concise summary of the principal evidences which prove that the natural and BOOKS. 27 proper food for man consists of fruits, grains, and vegetables. Pamphlet.—Price, post-paid, 15 cts. Exhausted Vitality ; Or, a Solemn Appeal Relative to Solitary Vice, and the Abuses and Excesses of the Marriage Relation. We do not hesitate to say that this is the best work of the kind now in print in our country. It is gathered chiefly from the writings of the ablest and best writers upon the subject. This little volume should be placed in the hands of every youth, parent, or guardian in the land.—Price, post-paid, bound in cloth, 60 cts. ; in paper cover, 30 cts. HEALTH TRACTS. The following tracts are especially adapted for general circulation and are offered at a liberal discount by th<$ hundred copies. Dyspepsia: Its Causes, How to Prevent, and how to Cure. 32 pp. 5 cts. The Dress Reform: A description of the most Healthful, Modest, and Convenient Style of Woman’s Dress, with Reasons for Wearing it. 16 pp. 3 cts. Principles of Health Reform: or, What Health Reform Is and What It is Not. Especially designed to remove Prejudice and Invite Investigation. 16 pp. 3 cts. Startling Facts about Tobacco ; or, Thirty Unanswerable Objections to Tobacco-Using : Just the tiling to hand to a tobacco-using neighbor. 24 pp. 5 cts. Twenty-Five Arguments for Tobacco-Using Briefly Answered: A thorough exposure of the fallacious reasoning of the advocates of tobacco-using. 16 pp. 3 cts. Tea and Coffee : Why their Use Is Unhealthful. A thorough and candid examination of the arguments for and against the use of these beverages. 32 pp. 5 cts. Pork: A description of the dangers and diseases originating in pork-eating. 16 pp. 3 cts. Address, HEALTH REFORMER, , Battle Creek, Mieh, THE HEALTH REFORMER. This is a monthly journal devoted to physical, mental, and moral culture. ITS MISSION. As indicated in the prospectus, its mission is to contribute to the improvement of mankind physically, mentally, and morally. Of the necessity for reform in these particulars, wo need not speak; for the alarming evidences of physical degeneracy and disease, mental inefficiency, and moral turpitude, which we see about us on every hand, speak more loudly than can words of the crying need of immediate and thorough reformation. Progression is the spirit of the times. Social reform, prison reform, civil service reform, and various other reforms, each in its turn, calls for the Gareful and candid consideration and hearty co-operation of every intelligent man and woman. And very just and appropriate is this demand ; for nothing can be more promotive of the interests of society than improvement—progression—reform. As its namo would suggest, the Health Reformer is published in the interest of a reformation which has a special bearing upon health ; HEALTH—PHYSICAL, MENTAL, AND MOEAL. Perfect physical development, clear mental faculties, and acute moral sensibilities, constitute the perfection of manhood and womanhood. Can there be anything more important, then, than a reform which aims to securetheso three, conditions ? In order to accomplish the object which has been set forth, the conductors of the Reformer have adopted this as a fundamental principle of action : THE HEALTH REFORMER. 29 PHYSICAL REFORM IS THE BASIS OF ALL REFORM. This being the case, the most important branch of the work of the Reformer is in the direction of physical improvement and reform. But while constantly aiming at reform, and so contending against adverse and opposing influences, the conductors of the Reformer are careful to avoid those extremes into which so many reformers allow themselves to be led. They also ever seek to manifest that liberality of sentiment which is in harmony with the spirit of the present time, when every man is expected and urged to think and form opinions for himself. By so doing, they hope to incite a spirit of investigation, which, when pursued with candor and an unbiased judgment, can hardly fail to convince the reader of the truth of the positions taken. CHARACTER OF ITS CONTENTS. Those who conduct the Reformer endeavor to fill its columns with matter of practical importance and interest to every subscriber. Thorough instruction is given in regard to those two most important subjects, HOW TO RECOVER HEALTH, AND HOW TO RETAIN IT, These subjects being treated by those whose personal experience enables them to speak understanding^. In fact, every effort is put forth to make the Reformer indispensable to every household, and of special interest to that exceedingly large and unfortunate class of individuals who have been brought into the condition of invalids by disease^ But the subject of health, proper, by no means receives exclusive attention. Considerable space iB each month devoted, to general literature, science, and such other subjects as are of general interest. Tettns, $1.00 a year, in advance. Specimen copies sent free on application. Address, HEALTH REFORMER, Battle Creel:, Midi. THE HEALTH INSTITUTE. This model health institution is situated in the most healthful and delightful part of the proverbially neat and enterprising city of Battle Creek, Michigan, an important station on the Michigan Central R. R., about half way between Chicago and Detroit. GROUNDS. The grounds are ample, consisting of a site of about twenty acres, a large portion of which is covered with shade, ornamental, and fruit trees. They are also high, overlooking the entire city, and affording a fine view of the landscape for miles around. BUILDINGS. These comprise a large main building and seven fine cottages, all situated upon the same site. The main building contains commodious parlors, dining halls, bath and movement rooms, etc., etc., while the other buildings are fitted up as private apartments for patients. By this means are secured that quiet and retirement which cannot be obtained in an institution where scores of suffering individuals are crowded together under one roof. ROOMS Are large and well ventilated, and are furnished much better than in any other institution of the kind, thus affording the patient all the luxuries and comforts which he enjoys at home, and many more. OUR REMEDIES Are Light, Water, Air, Electricity, Exercise, Cheerfulness, Rest, Sleep, Proper Clothing, Proper Food, and, in fact, all Hygienic and Sanitary Agents. All known means of restoring health are constantly employed, poisons alone being excluded from our Materia Medica. OUR PHYSICIANS. The medical managers of the institution comprise an HEALTH INSTITUTE. 31 adequate number of conscientious, watchful, and efficient physicians, who give personal and unremitting care and attention to their patients, anticipating, as far as possible, their wants, carefully studying their cases, and applying every available means to restore them to health. OUR FACILITIES. Very few institutions are provided with conveniences and advantages equal to ours. Our bath rooms are both capacious and convenient, and are furnished with an inexhaustible supply of pure soft water. SPECIAL ADVANTAGES. Jn addition to the appliances usually employed in health institutions, we make use of the Hot-Air-Bath (which possesses all the virtues of the Turkish-Bath, while avoiding its evils), the much renowned Electric or Electro-Thermal-Bath, the Lift Cure, and the celebrated Swedish-Movement Cure, which are so successful in many cases which cannot be reached by other means. The “ Vibrator,” a machine for giving passive exercise, has also been recently added to our other appliances, at an expense of several hundred dollars. This apparatus besides being a triumph of mechanical ingenuity is a most effiective remedy for many chronic diseases. DIET. While we reject from our dietary those pernicious drinks and condiments which are the potent agents in bringing thousands to untimely graves, we take care to supply our table with an abundance of nutritious and palatable food, consisting of fruits, grains, and vegetables. We do not enforce, however, a radical and immediate change from old habits, but give the patient time to accommodate himself to the new diet. OUR SUCCESS. The class of individuals who seek aid at our institution is very largely composed of those who are afflicted with chronic diseases, and who have been drugged and poisoned until their vitality has become well-nigh exhausted 32 HEALTH INSTITUTE. and they are given up by their friends and medical advisers to die. Under these circumstances, they come to us as a final resort, and, thanks to a true and potent system of treatment, this last hope is seldom disappointed. Consumption.—Many cases might be cited, and references given, in which this most insidious and hopeless of all diseases has been robbed *of its victims and a new lease of life given them by a few months’ stay with us. Dyspepsia*—Hundreds have come to us afflicted with this most deplorable disease in its most aggravated forms, and, after staying a proper time, have returned to their friends relieved of their sufferings. Paralysis.—Even this'formidable disease is, in many cases, treated with entire success, the uso of paralyzed organs being wholly restored. Dropsy, Neuralgia, Asthma, Kidney Difficulties (of the worst forms), Chronic Diarrhea, Chronic Congestion of the Brain, Cancer, Palpitation of the Heart, Rheumatism, Liver Complaints, Epilepsy, Bronchitis, Piles, Ulceration of Bowels, Catarrh of Bladder and Bowels, Constipation (in some cases without a natural passage for many years), Spermatorrhea, Tape-worm, and, in fact, Chronic Diseases of all kinds are treated with a degree of success impossible with any other mode of practice. The most flattering success has attended the treatment of Uterine Difficulties, and all other Diseases of Women, which receive special attention. ACUTE DISEASES. Our mode of treatment is specially adapted to this class of diseases, meeting with the most uniform success with Fevers and Inflammations of every type and form, all Eruptive Diseases, etc., etc. To the sick, we say, Do not delay seeking our assistance until your case is hopeless. Write at once for circular, which will be sent free on application. Address, HEALTH INSTITUTE, Battle Creek, Afich.