Tobacco and its use in Asia / by Berthold Laufer.

  • Laufer, Berthold, 1874-1934.
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Tobacco and its use in Asia / by Berthold Laufer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    remove intoxication resulting from wine, because, when used after drinking, it softens the temper, lessens the phlegm secretion, and cures the after-effect of wine; third, it gives man satisfaction whenever he is hungry; fourth, it makes man hungry when he is sated. If a person smokes when he is hungry, he feels as though he has taken plentiful food; and when he smokes after eating sufficiently, it affords good digestion in a most satisfactory manner. For this reason many people use it as a substitute for wine and tea, and never get tired of it, even when smoking all day long. “We must next consider the matter of respiration, which is closely connected with the circulation of the blood. The blood moves three inches either at one inhalation or one exhalation, with the result that it circulates through the whole body fifty times in the course of a day and a night; during this interval a man makes thirteen thousand and five hundred respirations. Because circulation is fully controlled by the stomach, the smoke which is absorbed by the stomach will pass through the body without interfering with the order of organs, rush around swiftly, and force its way in its progress through the body. However, human energy does not equal the natural fire; there is the only alter¬ native as to the triumph or defeat of one or the other, “but what energy of a human being can stand a wicked fire burning all day long, and depriving him of real power, drying his invisible blood, and shortening his allotment of life without his knowledge? As a rule, the disturbance of the order of the human body will be increased by expelling the cold and wet or deposited phlegm by using the smoke, but this is only good for the person who suffers simply internal impediment or external disorder; but if he has trouble arising from fire inside of his body, smoking will inflame it, so that he should cautiously avoid it.” [65]