The other narcotic : addressed especially and earnestly to abstainers from intoxicants / by Mrs. Hind Smith.

  • Hind Smith, Mrs.
Date:
Between 1870 and 1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The other narcotic : addressed especially and earnestly to abstainers from intoxicants / by Mrs. Hind Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    s those who have indulged too freely in the use of spirituous and fermented liquors. . . But a still graver question remains to be considered. What will be the result if this habit be continued by future generations ? It is but too true that the sins of the fathers are visited upon their children and their children’s children.” But supposing we knew nothing of the poisonous properties of tobacco, we need go no further than what we see every day to know that it is unnatural in the double sense of the word. No one has a natural desire for it. It is not pleasant to children, like food, drink, warmth, exercise, sweet¬ meats, and so on. The taste is wholly an acquired one, and, further, tobacco goes against nature. Nature rebels, and by headaches, nausea, languor, loss of appetite, and sometimes loss of sleep, protests against it. The symptoms may vary according to different constitutions, but the exceptions are very rare, if to be found at all, where tobacco has not had to be persevered in before nature has yielded to its sway. Again, the act of smoking is unnatural. Is it not evident that it is contrary to the natural uses of the mouth, throat, nose, and the organs connected with them, being both injurious and offensive to their delicate structure ? 2. The use of tobacco is dangerous. This follows partly from the fact that it is a poison. All poisons are dangerous, and should only be used, if at all, under necessity, and very cautiously. For this poison we deny that there is any necessity; but, alas we see but little caution. The injury is often slowly, but none the less surely done. Many a man is to-day injuring himself in body, mind, and soul by this habit, which he gradually and thoughtlessly acquired, but which he cannot throw off without a struggle— possibly a desperate one. Beware, then, of the dangers of the habit—the danger of being mastered by it; the danger of going beyond the “ safe ” limit, if any such there be ; the danger of being led into undesirable if not evil company;—and, further, even if safe yourself, the danger of others being led by your example into a path from which you cannot extricate them. To other dangers I need not do more than refer. Thousands of lives in collieries and elsewhere have been sacrificed, and incalculable amounts of valuable property destroyed, by fires on land and sea, through the reck¬ lessness of smokers bent on the gratification of their passion. 3. The use of tobacco is a self-indulgent habit. We want every help to action, self-denial, and self-control; and any habit which induces idolence and apathv lessens the chances of our ultimate victory in the battle of life. We are told to “ lay aside every weight,” as well as “ the sin which doth so easily beset us, and ruff with patience the race set before us.” And is not the use of tobacco a “weight” to many a runner in this race ? To indulge in smoking seems to me the very opposite of being u sober,