"--JOHN RUSKIN.

I. TOBACCO.

Tobacco wastes the body. It is used for the nicotine that is in it. This
peculiar ingredient is a poisonous, oily, colorless liquid, and gives to
tobacco its odor. This odor and the flavor of tobacco are developed by
fermentation in the process of preparation for use. "Poison" is commonly
defined as "any substance that when taken into the system acts in
an injurious manner, tending to cause death or serious detriment
to health." And different poisons are defined as those which act
differently upon the human organism. For example, one class, such as
nicotine in tobacco, is defined as that which acts as a stimulant or
an irritant; while another class, such as opium, acts with a quieting,
soothing influence. But the fact is that poison does not act at all
upon the human system, but the human system acts upon the poison. In
one class of poisons, such as opium, the reason why the system does not
arouse itself and try to cast off the poison, is that the nerves become
paralyzed so that it can not. And in the case of nicotine in tobacco the
nerves are not thus paralyzed, so that they try in every way to cast off
the poison. Let the human body represent the house, and the sensitive
nerves and the delicate blood vessels the sleeping inmates of that
house. Let the Foe Opium come to invade that house and to destroy the
inmates, for every poison is a deadly Foe. At the first appearance of
this subtle Foe terror is struck into the heart of the inmates, so that
they fall back helpless, paralyzed with fear. When the Intruder Tobacco
comes, he comes boisterously, rattling the windows and jostling the
furniture, so that the inmates of the house set up a life-and-death
conflict against him.

This is just what happens when tobacco is taken into the human system.
Every nerve cries out against it, and every effort is made to resist it.
You ask, Will one's body be healthier and live longer without tobacco
than with it? We answer, by asking, Will one's home be happier and more
prosperous without some deadly Foe continually invading it, or with such
a Foe? When the membranes and tissues of the body, with their host of
nerves and blood vessels, have to be fighting against some deadly poison
in connection with their ordinary work, will they not wear out sooner
than if they could be left to do their ordinary work quietly? To
illustrate: A particle of tobacco dust no sooner comes into contact with
the lining m