Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/189

 newspaper, or a letter—does the same; so that the perusal, by any one not seasoned to such fumes, is sickening; and, to ladies, disgusting. The very difficulty of learning to smoke, the headache, and nausea, and vertigo with which that is acquired, are enough to show that the habit is most injurious; only made endurable by long habit, and persevered in from want of some more congenial occupation. Habitual smoking, too, often leads to habitual drinking; the drain upon the system must be replenished,and brandy and water is the succedaneum. Some pretend to gainsay this, and maintain that they do not spit; but this only shows the torpor of the salivary glands; for, if they werein a healthy state,saliva would be as copious as when they were learning the habit.

Some smoke from medicinal motives,and to produce alaxative effect, or from absurd notions that it neutralises malaria; but these same persons would grumble loudly at being obliged to take a pill every evening to produce the same effect. If a general order were issued, rendering smoking compulsory, how the fathers of youthful heroes would protest against so very expensive a habit being imposed upon their sons, what an outcry there would be amongst the married ladies for having such an intolerable nuisance forced upon their domestic economy. How the surgeons would be