Col. Burr informed Dr. Rush, that the greatest complaints of dissatisfaction and suffering, that he heard among the soldiers who accompanied General Arnold in his march from Boston through the wilderness to Quebec, in the year 1775, arose from the want of tobacco. This was the more remarkable, as they were so destitute of provisions as to be obliged to kill and eat their dogs.
The Persians, we are informed, often expatriate themselves, when they are prohibited the use of tobacco, in order to enjoy unmolested this luxury in a foreign country. Nor are these facts incredible to those, who are familiar with the laws that regulate the animal economy.
Long and obstinate is the conflict with nature, before the taste or smell of such disgusting things as alcohol, opium, and tobacco can be endured. But when she, worn out by repeated and continued assaults, abandons her post, and gives up the dominion to the artificial appetite, the order of things is reversed, and we at last find, to our sorrow, that this unnatural appetite is vastly more ungovernable than the one implanted by our Creator for things originally pleasant and agreeable. Add to all these considerations the well attested fact, that no sensible man, who has himself used the baneful weed, ever advised his neighbor or child to follow his example, but often the contrary; and its inutility is sufficiently proved.
Having thus far endeavored to shew the futility of the objection raised against our doctrine, by the consumers of this drug; let us now, in our turn, call on them to give a good reason why so much money should be expended, and so much time wasted, as are annually squandered in the various departments of raising, preparing, and consuming this plant; and to point out, if they can, in what manner a poison so deadly acts on the healthy system without producing evil consequences.
To make out the case, it will be necessary for its advocates to prove one of the following positions; either,
1. That it produces no effect at all, and is therefore harmless; or,
2. That it produces a good effect, and is indispensable to the enjoyment of perfect health.
As this part of the enquiry is somewhat important, and since it regards the success of our principles, we will examine these positions a little in detail, to see how they are sustained by fact and experience.
If it produces no effect at all, why that universal uneasiness, amounting as we have seen in some instances almost to distraction, uniformly manifested by the consumers of this plant, when by accident they are temporarily deprived of the means of indulgence?
If tobacco produces no effect, why fly to it as a solace for every woe, as a refuge from affliction and trouble, and as a hiding-place from the tempests of misfortune?