ll within three hundred years;
and that even now, all the polished and enlightened portion of community
abroad--and we add, a very respectable portion at home--have no
fellowship with the filthy weed. And can any man justify himself in the
daily use of a disgusting plant, against the practice, opinion, and
remonstrances of so large a portion of the civilized world? Can he be
discharging the obligations of his duty, and enjoying the full amount of
his privilege, while he suffers himself to be a bond-slave to his quid,
his pipe, or his snuff-box? Either an important article of the vegetable
kingdom, lay hid from the civilized world nearly six thousand years; or
since its discovery, the lovers of tobacco have formed an entirely
erroneous opinion of its properties. In the sequel, I trust it will
appear, that so far from possessing _valuable_ properties, it is one of
the most _noxious_ weeds that grows; that, as an article of medicine, it
possesses scarcely a redeeming quality; and that, though it was not made
in vain, if the world had remained ignorant of it six thousand years
longer, no cause of regret would have been occasioned.

I maintain the position I have laid down,

II. From a consideration of the ruinous effects of tobacco upon the
_health_ and _constitution_ of men.

In considering this point, let us examine the _properties_ of this
weed,--the prominent diseases which the use of it induces,--and the
_experiences_ of unprejudiced observers. The properties of tobacco are
decidedly _poisonous_. In proof of this assertion, I appeal to ample and
unquestionable authority.

Professor Hitchcock says, "I group _alcohol_, _opium_ and _tobacco_
together, as alike to be rejected; because they agree in being
_poisonous_ in their natures." "In popular language," says he, "alcohol
is classed among the stimulants, and opium and tobacco among the
narcotics, whose ultimate effect upon the animal system is to produce
stupor and insensibility." He says, "Most of the powerful vegetable
poisons, such as hen-bane, hemlock, thorn-apple, prussic acid, deadly
night-shade, fox-glove and poison sumach, have an effect on the animal
system scarcely to be distinguished from that of opium and _tobacco_.
They impair the organs of digestion, and may bring on fatuity, palsy,
delirium, or apoplexy," He says, "In those not accustomed to it,
_tobacco_ excites nausea, vomiting, dizziness, indigestion, mental
dejection, and in short, the whole train