A Treatise on Tobacco, Tea, Coffee, and Chocolate. Simon Paulli
Abuse of Tobacco, because the mamillary Processes are thereby dried, so that when they are rendered drier than the Effluvia exciting the Perception of any Smell, they cannot be duly acted upon by such Effluvia; for Smell, according to Aristotle, in Lib. 3. de Animal. consists in the dry Effluvia surpassing the Moisture of these Processes; so that the common Sensory may have a Change produced in it by proper and adequate Objects." Magnenus also, in Exercitat. 28. Sect. 1. tells us, "That he knew a Man, who, in one Day, snuffed four Ounces." After which, he proceeds to enquire into the Advantages and Injuries attending the Use of Snuff; and to consider why it excites Sternutation in those who are not accustomed to it, but not in those who are. This accurate Author also, among other Reasons against the excessive Use of Snuff, advances this, that it may enter the Passages of the Os Ethmoides, form itself into Concretions, and there lodge for a great while. Hence, it is sufficiently obvious, that when the Passages and Perforations of this Bone are obstructed by Snuff, the Air can neither have Access to the Brain for its Ventilation, nor can the Effluvia of odorous Bodies be conveyed to it; in Consequence of which, the Sense of Smelling must necessarily be lost. Though this should, perhaps, be looked upon as a trifling and inconsiderable Loss; yet Snuff, by its highly narcotic, heating, drying, penetrating, and unctuous Qualities, has such an unlucky Influence on the eighth Pair of Nerves of Spigellius, or the first of Bartholin, which are appropriated to Smelling, that it gradually impairs, and, in process of Time, totally destroys that Sense; because this Pair of Nerves is conveyed to the mamillary Processes, which are situated in the interior Part of the Brain, near the Os Ethmoides, which is covered with the Dura Mater. Since, therefore, a large Quantity of Snuff is violently attracted towards the Root of the Nose; and since, according to the Doctrine of Hippocrates, Nature is never one Moment idle in a living Body, all whose Parts are pervious and transparable, it must necessarily happen, that the Parts subservient to the Sense of Smelling must be greatly injured by the narcotic Quality of Snuff. Having said thus much of the Misfortunes produced by excessive Snuffing, we now come to consider those attending the Abuse of Smoaking; in doing which, we shall confine ourselves to Examples, which have a better Effect on the Vulgar, than the nice and fine-spun Deductions of a Philosopher's Reason.
It is therefore certain that Tobacco is possessed of an highly penetrating Quality. Thus the celebrated Heurnius, in Lib. 1. Method. ad Prax. speaks of it in the following Manner: "Tobacco, when smoaked, produces very singular Effects, since it draws a surprizing Quantity of Phlegm from the Mouth and Nostrils: The Smoak arising from its dry Leaves laid upon live Coals, when received into the Mouth by a Funnel, pervades the whole Brain, and is also conveyed to the Ears, and Uterus. But I can affirm, that this Herb is, in a peculiar Manner, appropriated to the Brain; easily conveys its Virtues thither, and evacuates all its Sordes: For, about a Year ago, when I was afflicted with the Tooth-ach, I made a Decoction of Tobacco with Water, adding some Camomile Flowers: A Spoonful of this Decoction, when tepid, I put in my Mouth, and spit it out some Time after; and this I did for two Hours; by which Means my Pain was considerably alleviated. Next Day, when I went to my Garden, and stooped to pull up a Weed, a large Quantity of a Saffron-coloured Liquor, which smelled like Tobacco, flowed from my Nose, upon which my Tooth-ach was immediately removed. During the whole of my Life, neither Blood, nor any other Liquor, except a ferous Phlegm, had flowed from my Nose, but upon this Occasion I never saw any Liquor of a deeper yellow Colour." Other similar Accounts of the penetrating Quality of Tobacco, I have had from my old Master, Henningus Arnesæus, Physician to Christianus, the fourth King of Denmark, who affirmed, "That not only the Smoak of Tobacco, but also that of every other Substance received by the Mouth, was penetrating on Account of its Acrimony; in Consequence of which, it must pervade and alter the whole Substance of the Brain, both Meninges, and all the Vessels, and Contents of them." Besides, as the Smoak of Tobacco is hot, proceeding immediately from kindled Tobacco; and as, according to Aristotle, it is the Property of Heat to collect homogeneous, and separate heterogeneous Substances, it must necessarily happen, in the very Nature of Things, that this Smoak should fuse and colliquate the Phlegm, the Receptacle of which is the Brain, which, according to Hippocrates, is the largest of all the Glands. I do not in the least doubt of the Truth of Arnesæus's Opinion; for I think that all the Fore-runners of Catarrhs, such as Sternutations, Spittings, and Discharges of Saliva, are produced by Heat, which is the necessary Cause of Catarrhs, though not the productive Cause of the morbific Matter. Thus the celebrated Hoffman, in Lib. 3. Institut. Medic. Cap. 193. informs us, "That Heat alone, and, for the most part, of the external Kind, such as that of the Sun, or that procured by Exercise, Wine, and Aromatics, among which are Cinnamon and Saffron, with which we so plentifully season our Aliments, is sufficient to fuse and colliquate the Phlegm, or acrid Serum." Thus a Pipe filled with the burned Wicks of Candles, gathered out of Snuffers, or with a Piece of Match used in discharging Cannons, or with a Piece of bituminous, fossile Earth, especially that of Holland, will procure as copious a Spitting, as a Pipe of the best Virginian Tobacco. Soldiers also, and Sailors, produce the same Pleasure and Effects in themselves by smoaking kindled Paper, as are produced by smoaking Tobacco. Since, therefore, acrid Smoak and Heat of every Kind, conveyed to the Brain, fuse the Phlegm, and eliminate it by the Os Ethmoides and Sphœnoides, the Nose and the Palate of the Mouth, I see no Reason why Heurnius should affirm, "That it has a surprizing Faculty of drawing the Phlegm from the Mouth and Nostrils; that it is peculiarly adapted to the Brain, easily conveys its Virtues thither, and eliminates all its Sordes."
As Tobacco is hot, dry, unctuous, and penetrating; it must, on account of these Qualities, soon take Flame: And, as it is possessed of an highly narcotic Quality, it, by its narcotic Sulphur, stupifies those who use it, corrupts the Temperature of the Brain, and destroys its Tone; whereas, the moderate Smoaking of Marjoram, Betony, Rosemary, Amber, and other Substances of a like Nature, would eliminate the Phlegm more safely, and without producing any of these ill Consequences. This narcotic Quality of Tobacco, is the Reason why great Smoakers are, during the whole of their Lives, afflicted with a continual Spitting, as I have observed in Histor. Pompinellæ Class. secund. Quadripartit. Though by the frequent Use of Tobacco, a large Quantity of Phlegm is eliminated from the Brain; this Plant is not, therefore, a peculiar Specific, adapted to that Organ: For, on the contrary, since it manifestly abounds with a narcotic Sulphur, it is highly injurious, not only to the Nerves, but also to the whole Substance of the Brain. Hence, as I observed before, many Users of Tobacco, not only have their olfactory Nerves so injured by its narcotic Sulphur, as to lose the Sense of Smelling, but are also observed not to have a very exquisite Taste, the fourth and seventh Pairs of Nerves being affected. Persons of this Kind are also observed to be fond of Malt Liquors, and to complain of a languid Appetite; because the sixth Pair of Nerves, which descends into the Stomach, is stupified by the narcotic Sulphur of the Tobacco: It is, therefore, absurd to maintain, that Tobacco is of a cephalic Quality, and peculiarly adapted to the Disorders of the Head, since it is so unfriendly to the Nerves as to produce a Stupor in them. It is more reasonable to argue thus: Tobacco is hot, consists of very subtle Parts, and is highly penetrating; therefore, being at the same Time narcotic, it will prove the more hurtful, the more penetrating it is; because the narcotic Quality of Tobacco, which is otherwise slow, like that of Opium, or Hemlock, is, by its other Qualities, exalted, and put in Action; or, to speak my Sentiments more freely, by means of the Acrimony ascribed to its Salt, whether fixed or volatile, the narcotic Sulphur is conveyed in its full Strength to the Nerves of the Head. That this Sulphur remains pretty long intire, even in a living Person, is sufficiently evinced, by that Saffron-coloured Liquor, smelling like Tobacco, which was discharged from the Nostrils of Heurnius, next Day after the Abuse of a Decoction of Tobacco and Camomile Flowers. I would not have any one imagine, that as soon as he lays by his Pipe, his Brain is no longer heated by the Smoak, which, for two or three Days after, he smells, or expires, when he sneezes. Thus, this narcotic, unctuous, and strong-smelled Sulphur, adhering to the Membranes, Ventricles, Gyrations, or other latent Passages of the Brain, and being left alone without either Smoak or Heat, gradually and insensibly corrupts the whole Mass of the Brain, by which Means Tobacco-Smoakers are obliged to spit and expectorate continually. When the Brain is thus weakened by the copious Spitting excited by the narcotic Sulphur, neither the Tonsils nor the Thymus, which are destined