An essay on the influence of tobacco upon life and health / by R.D. Mussey.

  • Mussey, R. D. (Reuben Dimond), 1780-1866.
Date:
[1854?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the influence of tobacco upon life and health / by R.D. Mussey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    ESSAY ON TOBACCO. In the great kingdom of living nature, man is the only animal that seeks to poison or de- stroy his own instincts, to turn topsy-turvy the laws of his being, and to make himself as unlike as possible that which he was obviously design- ed to be. No satisfactory solution of this extraordinary propensity has been given, short of a reference to that first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world and all our woe, With loss of Eden. While the myriads of sentient beings spread over the earth adhere with unyielding fidelity to the laws of their several existences, man exerts his superior intellect in attempting to outwit nature, and to show that she has made an important mistake in his own case. Not satisfied with the symmetry and elegance of form given him by his Creator, he transforms himself into a hideous monster, or copies upon