Volume 1

Works on phrenology, physiology, and kindred subjects / by O.S. Fowler, and others.

Date:
[1884?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Works on phrenology, physiology, and kindred subjects / by O.S. Fowler, and others. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    569/592 (page 23)
    THE VOICE. Public speakers not unfrequently make a liberal use of tobacco, sometimes by smoking, sometimes by chewing, and sometimes by both. Some clergymen find themselves unable to preach unless the pipe or quid has been resorted to just before commencing the pulpit exercises. They feel a troublesome dryness of the mouth and throat. That these individuals are sincere in their belief concerning the good effects of tobacco in their cases there can be no doubt. They are as honest as the old women are who cure their headaches with an extra “ good strong cup,”—when they assert that tea is one of the best things in the world to cure headache with ; and the latter are not more mistaken than the former. This dryness and parched condition of the throat are of them- selves symptoms of a diseased condition of the part. At first the habit of using tobacco was commenced foolishly, or perhaps by the advice of some physician, who knew no more of the true science of healing than the man who put the cart before the horse. Why cannot these would-be wise men of the profession, who have so often recommended tobaoco for the difficulties of the throat, remember that the constant and habitual us a of any medicine, however good, will with indubitable certainty wear itselj out; and that the effects which at first appeared to be good become ultu matelg, in all cases of long-continued use, bad. This axiom, be it remembered, holds good in the use of all drugs. What were at first the ymutoms of cure become, %y long-continued use, the symptoms of disease. There are cases in whiqh this tendency to dryness of the throat in public speaking would, without the use of tobacco, become so severe, and the hoarseness so great, that it would be very difficult to proceed in the exercise. However, if persons will persevere, and rid themselves wholly of the noxious drug, they will find that within a reasonable time— a few weeks, or at most months—the unpleasant symptoms will pass off. I am obliged to say that I have known several who through their immoderate attach- ment to the pipe have become mere sots.” George Sullivan said “ that the tobacco pipe excites a demand for an extraordinary quantity of some beverage to supply the waste of] glandular secretion, in a proportion to the expense of saliva, and ardent spirits are the common substitutes; and the smoker is often reduced to a state of dram-drinking, and finishes his fife as a sot.” And vhe learned and sagacious Dr. Rush remarked “ that smoking and chewing tobacco, by rendering water and other simple liquors insipid to the taste, dispose very much to the stronger stimulus of ardent spirits,” and that “ hence the practice of smoking cigars has been followed by the use of brandy and water as a common drink.” Also some years ago a writer in the “Genius of Temperance” (American) said that his practice of smoking and chewing tobacco “ produced a continual thirst for stimulating drinks ; and that this tor- menting thirst “ led him to the habit of drinking ale, porter, brandy, and other kinds of spirits, even to the extent, at times, of partial intoxication and then he added : “ I have reformed; and after I had subdued this appetite for tobacco I lost all desire for stimulating drinks.” The inhabitants of Northern Siberia, male and female, we are told, swallow the smoke of tobacco for the purpose of bringing on a stupefaction as pleasurable as that of drunkenness to the spirit-drinker. But this iB what the good and Christian lovers of tobacco would call the intemperate use of the delectable weed—the good thing God has given with which to soothe the heart. But as in the case of spirit-drinking, it would, we think, be a somewhat puzzling question in the science of morality to determine precisely how many quids, how many pipes-full, how many “ pinches,” and how many cigars—in short, what precise quantity would in any given case come under the head of Christum moderation. The senses of sight, smelt, and hearing are also injured by the use of tobacco.