is probably the least injurious form in which to take tobacco, and chewing the most deleterious; yet sailors, who chew more freely than any other class in this country, are usually men in vigorous health, and after prolonged practice the quantity they can consume is enormous, Dr. Arrott mentions the case of a harbor superintend. ent, formerly a sailor, aged 64, in the almost uninterrupted enjoyment of good health, who chewed tobacco for upward of 50 years, and at length ate it, swallowing every particle of leaf arid juice. For many years, he had been in the constant practice of "eating a quarter of a pound of the strongest negrohead every five days."—The Lancet, 1847, vol. i. p. 440.
The effects which tobacco produces in large doses, when taken by persons unaccus tomed to its use, in the form of powder, infusion, or excessive smoking, are "faintness, nausea, vomiting, giddiness, delirium, loss of power of the limbs, general relaxation of the muscular system, trembling, complete prostration of strength, coldness of the sur face, with cold, clammy perspiration, convulsive movcinents, paralysis, and death. In some cases, there is purging, with violent pain in the abdomen ;• in others, there is rather a sense of sinking or depression in the region of the heart, creating a sense of impending dissolution. With the above-mentioned symptoms, there is a dilatation of the pupils, dimness of the sight, a small, weak, and scarcely perceptible pulse, and difficulty of breathing."—Taylor's Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence, p. 321. Although
there are two recorded cases of poisoning by nicotine, poisoning by tobacco has rarely given rise to medico-legal investigation. There is, however, reason to believe that porter is often drugged with tobacco or Scotch snuff, for the purpose of stupefying per sons with view to robbery. In all cases of poisoning with tobacco, if it has been swallowed, an emetic of a scruple of sulphate of zinc should be at once administered, and the most powerful stimulants, both external and internal, should be employed. Prof. Haughton has shown that nicotine and strychnine antagonize one another; on this assumption, strychnine, carefully administered, would be the proper antidote.
Tobacco has been used in medicine in the form of an enema, with the view of relax ing the muscular fibers, in cases of strangulated hernia, stricture of the bowel or urethra, tetanus, etc.; but in such cases, it has now been generally superseded by chloroform. If it continue to h-Al a place in the pharmacopoeia, it will probably be as an antidote to strychnine.
It must be recollected that Indian tobacco has nothing in common with the subject of this article, and is a synonym for lobelia inflata.