g tobacco and even from external
application of strong solutions. A case was recently reported from New
Haven of fatal poisoning in a baby,[55] who had been fed from a milk
bottle and milk-mixture in which some tobacco had been accidentally
spilled.

SUMMARY

From the mass of evidence and opinion with which medical literature is
loaded, a few salient facts stand out:

First: Tobacco and its smoke contain powerful narcotic poisons.

Second: It has never been shown to exert any beneficial influence on the
human body in health, and it is not even included in the United States
Pharmacopoeia as a remedy for disease, notwithstanding the claims that
are made for its sedative effects and its value as a solace to mankind.
If these benefits are real and dependable, they should be made available
in exact dosage and applied therapeutically. If they are not real and
dependable in a medical sense, they are not real and safe as a mere
drug indulgence.

Third: The symptoms following tobacco-smoking are identical with the
effects of tobacco-chewing among those not accustomed to its use; hence,
any collateral psychic effect, such as the sight of smoke, the
surrounding, etc., are of minor importance in establishing the habit.
The main charm to the smoker is the drug effect, as in any other similar
indulgence. Nicotinless tobacco is not popular, notwithstanding the
efforts of the French and Austrian Governments to make it so.

Fourth: Fortunately, the sedative drug effect is so slight, as compared
to that of other narcotics--opium, alcohol, cocaine, etc.--that the
tobacco habit is less seductive and may be broken with comparative ease
and is therefore less harmful morally. Men who have smoked or chewed
steadily for 40 years have been known to give up the habit without
experiencing much physical discomfort. Like any other habit, however,
there is a tendency to increasing indulgence, and this is a risk that
the smoker takes, just as does the alcohol user or the opium habitue who
begins with so-called moderate indulgence.

Fifth: The well-known effects of tobacco on the heart and circulation
should lead one to pause and consider the possible cost of this
indulgence, especially as--

Sixth: It is difficult to determine, years in advance, whether or not
one is endowed with sufficient resistance to render so-called moderate
smoking comparatively harmless.

Seventh: The vital statistics show that diseases of the heart and
circulatio