The action of a narcotic produces a peculiar cunning and resource in concealment; it develops, when occasion arises, the desire to deceive and, whether occasion arises or not, the desire to shift obligation and evade direct responsibility. Tobacco does this more mildly than opium, and it does so more appreciably with boys than with men; but, as with opium, it is part of the narcotic effect in all cases.
Let it always be remembered that if a man smokes and inhales tobacco excessively he is narcotizing himself more than when he smokes opium moderately.
CHAPTER IX
TOBACCO AND THE FUTURE OF THE RACE
Never yet has tobacco done any good to a man. Its direct effect has been harmful to millions, and indirectly it has harmed many other millions by setting up a systematic demand for stimulants. Of all the widely used products of nature, tobacco finds the least excuse in real necessity. Virtually the only medical use to which the active principle of tobacco (nicotine) can be put is the production of nausea, and there are many other drugs that can be used with much better effect for that purpose. If one will study the pharmacopœia, he will find that, next to prussic acid, nicotine is rated as the most powerful known poison, and is not credited with a single curative property. From a medical point of view it is valueless.
The social standing of the man who took it from the tepees of the North American Indians to England is mainly responsible for its taking root there, for the acquisition of the tobacco habit is a painful process. Nature’s revolt against it is much more instinctive than her revolt against alcohol. Furthermore, like any other form of poison, its effects are most immediate and evident upon the young and weak; for they are easier to poison than the mature and strong.
THE FULL EFFECT OF THE TOBACCO HABIT IS NOT YET APPARENT
To one who has made a careful study of the effects of tobacco the prospect for the future is not encouraging. The habit was already widespread before the extensive manufacture, or even knowledge, of cigarettes was introduced into the United States, and this later form of smoking, which is easily the most obnoxious and harmful of all, has not yet had time to disclose its full power for injury. For it is in the inhaling of tobacco that the smoker receives his greatest injury, and the habit of inhalation is peculiar to the cigarette-smoker. While there are smokers of cigars and pipes who inhale their smoke, it will almost always be found upon investigation that they acquired the habit of inhalation through smoking cigarettes. The average man with a cigarette history gets no pleasure out of smoke which he does not inhale.