A prize essay on smoking / by Miss Annie Jones.

  • Jones, Annie, Miss.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A prize essay on smoking / by Miss Annie Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ESSAY ON SMOKING. <( Shun smoking, as you would shun self-destkuction.”—Lancet, 1857. Smoking! Everyone lias been accustomed to see smoke from their ear¬ liest years,—sometimes proceeding from chimneys, and sometimes issuing from the mouths of men, women, and boys. On a lovely summer’s morning, when the sun is just rising and shedding forth his golden rays, to warm, cheer, and beautify the earth; when the birds are caroling forth their joyous notes, and in effect are singing, “ The hand that made us is Divine,” it is amusing to watch the smoke from some neighboring chimney, with its white curly wreaths ascending until it is lost in the surrounding air; but to see men endued with reasoning powers, resembling one of these piles of brick and mortar, can neither be admired nor tolerated. Eighteen hundred years ago, our ancestors were little, if at all, superior to the bar¬ barous savages that overrun some parts of North and South America at the present time; but they were a strong and healthy people, able to en¬ dure hardships and fatigue to an extraordinary degree. Could they now come among us, would they not be greatly astonished to witness the gen¬ eral advancement to which as a nation we have attained P But in passing through our streets it would mar their pleasure to behold the extent to which the disgusting custom of smoking is practised by all classes—from the ragged urchin to the man of hoary hairs. The question naturally arises, Since this custom has become so preva¬ lent, what effect has it for good or evil on a people who are so infatuated by its use, and chained to its thraldom P By young men it is often urged as an excuse, “ I am far away from home, I have no companions, I feel lonely, and taking a cigar in some measure compensates for my privations.” Poor young fellows ! cannot they have higher aims P Let them look on the vast expanse of creation, and view there the handiwork of a beneficent Father and Friend. Then they will not require so futile a companion as a twisted leaf of a poisonous weed. Another excuse often made is, “ I can think more to the purpose ; I can better collect my thoughts.” This is a suggestion from the evil one. “ Let two young men of equal abilities set themselves about any kind of work that requires continuous mental appli¬ cation, and the result will be that the non-smoker will carry off the palm.” Moreover if we may judge by those who are fatigued after two or three hours’ drill, and cannot reach home without calling at some inn or pot-house by the roadside, to resuscitate themselves, and issue forth with a reeking cigar, or the more vulgar clay pipe, the heroic spirit of our ancestors will ere long vanish in smoke ! An order has lately been wisely issued from the Admiralty, forbidding youths under the age of eighteen to smoke. Why is this ? Because medical statistics have proved that it injures the nerves, strength, and style of a man, that it destroys the very principle of manhood. Young men become tremulous and timid, lank and lean ; they do not rise to the stature of men. Their vigor is impaired, and as a na¬ tion’s greatness depends essentially on the physical energies of the people, all practical means ought to be employed to repress every custom which tends to its deterioration. The Times, to whose columns the public refer for remarks on the lead¬ ing topics of the day, has taken up the matter respecting this order. The view which it takes of the subject is,—That the measures are too string¬ ent, that if an attempt by violent means be made to put an end altogether