smoker. I smoke the whole time I am engaged in composition (three
hours _per diem_), and after meals; but very light tobacco--
_latakia_. [Footnote: Latakia, or Turkish, are called mild
tobaccos, and although they produce dryness of the tongue, from the
ammonia evolved in their smoke, they do not upset the digestion so
materially, nor nauseate so much as the stronger tobaccos, unless they
are indiscriminately used.--DR. B. W. RICHARDSON. ("_Diseases of
Modern Life_")] That it stimulates the imagination, I have little
doubt; and as I have worked longer and more continuously for thirty
years than any other author (save one); I cannot believe that tobacco
has done me any harm. Those who object to it have never tried it, or
find it disagrees with them. How can they, therefore, be in a position
to judge? I find cigars disagree with me but I do not on that account
pronounce them unwholesome for everybody. I drink very little
alcohol--only light claret, and occasionally dry champagne--but I do
not know what effect drinking alcohol has upon composition.
JAMES PAYN.
MR. EIZAK PITMAN,
AUTHOR OV "FONOGRAFI OR FONETIK SHORTHAND," AND ORIJINATER OV THE
SPELING REFORM.
If a breef skech ov mei leif, and the deietetik maner ov it, wil be
ov servis tu you, ei gladly giv it. Your rekwest abzolvz me from the
impiutashon ov boasting. If you make it publik, pray let it be printed
in the parshiali reformd speling in hwich it iz riten.
Ei hav been an abstainer from the stimiulant alkohol nearli all mei
leif, and ei hav alwayz refraind from the seduktiv influens ov the
sedativ tobako. Ei hav therefor no eksperiens tu ofer ov their use,
eksept that about 1838 ei woz rekomended tu take a glas ov wein per
day az a tonik, and az a remedi for dispepsia, hwich then began tu
trubel me. After obeying this medikal preskripshon for a year or two,
and feinding no releef from it, ei gave up both the wein and the use
ov flesh, "the brandi ov deiet;" the dispepsia disapeard, and haz
never vizited me sins.
Ei am nou verjing on seventi. Ei intensli enjoi leif and labor, and
rekweir nuthing beyond the laborz ov the day, and the walk tu and from
mei ofis, hwich iz a meil, tu indius refreshing sleep. Ei keep up mei
leif-long praktis ov reteiring at ten o'klok, and being at mei desk at
siks. About three yearz ago ei adopted the kustom ov taking a siesta
for half an our after diner. It iz wel, az Milton obzervz, tu giv the
bodi rest diuring the ferst konkokshon ov the prinsipal meal.
The uzhual sumer vizit tu the sea-seid woz unnon tu me til ei woz
fifti yearz ov aje. From 1837 (the date ov the publikashon ov
"Fonografi") tu 1861 (the date ov mei sekond maraje), nearli a kworter
ov a sentiuri, ei wurkt on from siks in the morning til bed-teim, ten
o'klok, without an intervening thought ov a holiday. Ei felt no wont
ov a temporeri respit from labor bekauz ei tuk no ekseiting food or
drink; and ei shud az soon hav meditated a breach in the Dekalog az a
breach in mei daili round ov diutiz bei eidling at the sea-seid. In
1861 ei relakst, and komenst the praktis ov leaving mei ofis at siks
in the evening. At the same teim ei komenst viziting the variiis
watering plasez, or going tu the Kontinent in the sumer for four or
feiv weeks. This rekriashon ei have taken more for the sake ov mei
weif and two sunz than from eni feeling ov nesesiti for it on mei own
part.
From mei own eksperiens ov the benefits ov abstinens from the sedativ
alkohol, and the stimulants tobako and snuf; and mei obzervashon ov
the efekts ov theze thingz on personz who indulj in them, ei hav a
ferm konvikshon that they ekserseiz a dedli influens on the hiuman
rase.
EIZAK PITMAN.
March 25, 1882.
M. GASTON PLANTE.
I am much flattered by the interest that you attach to my opinion on
the subject of the influence that certain substances can have upon
thought and upon intellectual work. I must tell you frankly that I
have not found that tobacco or alcohol have an advantageous influence.
It is true that I have not made much use of them--I have never taken
pure spirits, such as brandy, but only of wine containing a little. I
have been obliged sometimes, in trying to fortify my health, to take
some Bordeaux wine, and I have not observed that any appreciable
effect resulted from it upon the facility of intellectual work. From
the point of view of health, I counted particularly upon the iron
contained in good Bordeaux wine, but I have found that the alcohol in
the wine over-excited the nervous system, provoked sleeplessness and
cramps; and I have finally adopted as a drink wine mixed with water,
and even this in very small quantities. As to tobacco, I have also
tried it; and far from thinking that it favours intellectual work, I
believe, with one of our learned writers (the Abbe Moigno, Editor of
the "_Journal du Mondes_"), that its use tends to weaken the
memory. Neither do I make use of coffee, which equally excites the
nervous system, although, like all the world, I have observed that
this substance gives a certain intellectual activity. What I have
found out most clearly is what everyone has observed from time
immemorial--that the clearest ideas, the happiest and most fruitful
expressions, come in the morning, after the repose of the night, and
after sleep--when one has it, but of which I have not a very large
share. I attach so much importance to the ideas which come during the
night or in the morning, that I have always at the head of my bed
paper and pencil suspended by string, by the help of which I write
every morning the ideas I have been able to conceive, particularly
upon subjects of scientific research. [Footnote: Curtis, I think, says
that whenever Emerson has a "happy thought," he writes it down, be it
dawn or midnight, and when Mrs. Emerson, startled in the night by some
unusual sound, cries, "What is the matter? Are you ill?" the
philosopher's soft voice answers, "No, my dear, only an idea."--
_Appleton's New York Journal, Nov., 1873.] I write these notes
in obscurity, and decipher and develop them in the morning, pen in
hand. This is the reply I can make to your interesting enquiry. I
shall be happy to know the conclusion to which you will be conducted
by the information which you will have been able to collect.
GASTON PLANTE.
THE REV. A. PLUMMER,
HEAD MASTER OF THE DURHAM COLLEGE. University Tutor and Lecturer, and
University Proctor.
I am a firm believer in the value of a moderate use of tobacco and
alcohol for the brain worker. I generally smoke one pipe in the
morning, _before_ work, and one at night, _after_ work (or
the equivalents of a pipe). I seldom smoke _while_ I work, and do
not find it helpful. I drink two glasses of sherry (or their
equivalents), as a rule daily, and take them at late dinner--not at
lunch. If troubled with sleeplessness, I find a glass of sherry, and a
few biscuits, followed by smoking, a tolerably safe cure, but not
always to be relied upon. I should be very sorry to attempt to do
without these two helps. Of the two I believe the smoking to be the
more valuable, especially when (what is far worse than heavy work)
_worry_ is pressing upon one. I am wholly sceptical as to the
value of work before breakfast. Let a man get up as early as he likes:
but don't let him try to work on an empty stomach. The Irishman was
wise who said that when he worked before breakfast, he always had
something to eat first.
A. PLUMMER
April 6, 1882.
MR. EDWARD POCKNELL,
(POCKNELL'S PRESS AGENCY AND LONDON ASSOCIATED REPORTERS.)
In reply to your letter, I should say that tobacco has some action on
the brain; but I think its action different in different people, and
at different times in the same person. I think the action soothing
after food, but exciting on an empty stomach. In the former case I
think it promotes thinking in this way:--that the mind concentrates
its attention better during the mechanical operation of "puffing",
than when it is liable to be disturbed when not so occupied. For this
reason I should say that smoking does help to get through work late at
night. I find frequently that having commenced to write with a fresh
pipe in my mouth, I go on a long time after it goes out; but as it
remains in my mouth, it seems to have almost the same effect till the
discovery, at some pause, that my pipe is out; and then it is a
relaxation to spare a moment to refill it. I do not look upon smoking
as a necessity to mental labour; but it seems to me, as a smoker, an
agreeable and useful method for concentrating thought upon any
subject. But I think it would be difficult to lay down any general
rule for persons of different constitutions.
E. POCKNELL.
March 10, 1882.
PROFESSOR GEORGE RAWLINSON.
Although it does not appear to me that the method of your enquiry can
lead to any important results, you are quite welcome to any
information that I can give you on the subject. I was brought up to
take daily a moderate amount of beer or wine, and have continued to do
so all my lifetime, with the exception that my beer has been cut off,
and I have been recommended to take a little brandy and soda-water, or
whiskey and soda-water instead. I smoked an occasional cigar when I
was young, but never much liked tobacco, and gave up the practice
entirely when I was about five and twenty. I have never tried leaving
off alcoholic liquors, being advised medically that it would probably
be injurious to me to do so. I am, therefore, quite unable to say what
effect my doing so would have on my powers of thought and work.
GEORGE RAWLINSON.
March 28, 1882.
MR. CHARLES READE.
Your subject is important, and your method of enquiry sound. I wish I
could throw any light, but I cannot more than this. I tried to smoke
five or six times, but it always made me heavy and rather sick;
therefore, as it is not a necessary of life, and costs money, and
makes me sick, I spurned it from me. I have never felt the want of it.
I have seen many people the worse for it. I have seen many people
apparently none the worse for it. I never saw anybody perceptibly the
better for it.
C. READE.
Feb. 2, 1882.
MR. THOMAS ALLEN REED.
You ask me whether I have found tobacco or wine a help to me in my
work. No! As to the first, for the sufficient reason that I have never
tried it. I never smoked a pipe or a cigar in my life, and have no
intention of commencing the practice. When, more than thirty years
ago, I entered upon my profession, I was told by my _confreres_
that I should soon follow their example, and they smiled at my
innocence when I declared that I thought they were mistaken. As to
alcohol, I am not a teetotaler, but I think I can truly say that I
never found the least benefit from wine or beer in my daily or nightly
work. Indeed, I consider them rather a hindrance, having a tendency to
make one heavy and sleepy. I have been, and am still, a tolerably hard
worker, without the use of artificial stimulants, and judging from my
own experience, and that of many others with whom I have been
connected in my professional labours, I don't believe in their
efficacy. If I take a glass of wine occasionally (not a frequent
indulgence with me) it is because I like it, not because I think it
helps me in my work.
T. A. REED.
Feb. 18, 1882.
DR. JULIUS RODENBERG.
I have smoked from my seventeenth year, and could not do without it
now. On the whole, I am but a moderate smoker, and seldom smoke whilst
walking, but at work I must have my cigar, and find it agrees very
well with my health. Most of my learned and literary friends smoke;
but two or three of them have given it up in their later years without
visible effect upon their health or mental strength. As to alcohol, I
could not stand to drink brandy. Sometimes I drink a glass, but only
as an exception. I find it much more convenient for me, and a good
help to work, to take now and then a bottle of hock or champagne; but,
as a rule, I drink half a bottle of claret at dinner, and a pint of
beer at supper. I generally write in the morning from nine to
half-past one, when I dine; and from five o'clock in the afternoon to
nine, when I take supper, but I could not bear to drink either wine or
beer while at work.
JULIUS RODENBERG.
March 12, 1882.
DR. W. H. RUSSELL.
I am not able to give you any very positive expression of opinion on
the matter respecting which you write, but I can say that I have
smoked tobacco and taken wine for years, and though I cannot aver that
I should not have done as well without them, I have felt comforted and
sustained in my work by both at times, especially by the weed.
However, I was very well in the last campaign in South Africa, where
for some time we had neither wine nor spirits. Climate has a good deal
to say to the craving for a stimulant, and men in India, who never
drink in England, there consume "pegs" and cheroots enormously. Of
course, tobacco is to be put out of account in relation to great
workers and thinkers up to the close of the middle ages, but the
experience of antiquity would lead one to infer that the moderate use
of wine, at all events, was not unfavourable to the highest brain
development and physical force. Bismarck and Moltke are very great
smokers; neither is a temperance man. In effect, I am inclined to
think that tobacco and stimulants are hurtful mostly in the case of
inferior organizations of brain physique, where their use is only a
concomitant of baser indulgences, and uncontrolled by intelligence and
will. I am quite in favour, therefore, of legislative interference,
and almost inclined to supporting the Permissive Bill.
W. H. RUSSELL.
Feb. 23, 1882.
(For) MR. JOHN RUSKIN.
You are evidently unaware that Mr. Ruskin entirely abhors the
practice of smoking, in which he has never indulged. His dislike of
it is mainly based upon his belief (no doubt a true one) that a cigar
or pipe will very often make a man content to be idle for any length
of time, who would not otherwise be so. The excessive use of tobacco
amongst all classes abroad, both in France and Italy, and the
consequent spitting everywhere and upon everything, has not tended to
lessen his antipathy. I have heard him allow, however, that there is
reason in the soldiers and the sailors' pipe, as being some protection
against the ill effects of exposure, etc. As to the effect of tobacco
on the brain, I know that he considers it anything but beneficial.
Feb. 12, 1882.
KESHUB CHUNDER SEN.
The problem you have undertaken to solve is, indeed, one of intense
importance and interest, and all who can ought to help its solution in
the interests both of science and morality. I feel thankful for the
honour you have done me in inviting my opinion on the subject. As a
teetotaler I abstain wholly from intoxicating drinks and stimulants,
and discourage the use of the same in others. From boyhood up to the
present time--I am now 44--I have never been in the habit of drinking
or of smoking, nor did it ever occur to me that such habits were
essential to health or helpful to brain work. It is my firm conviction
that neither the head nor the hand derives any fresh power from the
use of stimulants. It is only habits already contracted which give to
alcohol and tobacco their so-called stimulating properties, and
engender a strong craving for them, which those who are not enslaved
by such habits never experience. I must not, however, place alcohol
and tobacco on the same level. The latter is comparatively harmless;
the former is a prolific source of evil in society, and often acts
like deadly poison.
KESHUB CHUNDER SEN.
July 29, 1882.
M. JULES SIMON.
Some twenty years ago I had occasion to study the condition of the
working classes, when I did not fail to observe the pernicious effects
produced upon their health and morals by the use of Strong liquors. I
remember that one of the most painful results of my inquiry was that
whilst some look for pleasure in the abuse of intoxicating liquor,
others, unable to procure sufficient food, seek to blunt the edge of
their appetite by drinking a little brandy. As my researches were made
so long ago, my testimony will now be of little value. Everything
changes in twenty years, and I would fain hope that during this period
a change for the better has taken place in the habits of the people. I
have not much to say on the use of tobacco. I believe that when taken
in excess, it has a stupefying effect. I know that it may act as a
poison, for a friend of mine, a member of the Senate, who has just
died, assured me repeatedly that he was dying from the effects of
constant smoking.
I look upon the use of tobacco, as a practice much to be deprecated,
as its tendency is to separate men from the society of women.
JULES SIMON.
March 8, 1882.
PROFESOR SKEAT.
As to the benefit of alcohol and tobacco, my opinion is that there is
no _general_ rule. As for myself, my experience is, that the less
stimulant I take, the better--I have given up beer with benefit to
myself, and I have almost given up wine. I take, on an average, about
five glasses of claret per week, more by way of luxury than of use.
Tobacco I never use, as smoking seems to me to be rather a waste of
time.
WALTER W. SKEAT.
March 18, 1882.
M. BARTHELEMY ST. HILAIRE.
I have no difficulty in making known to you my views on the effects
of tobacco and alcohol. I believe both to be extremely injurious, as
they are the cause of many diseases, even when taken in small
quantities, and much more so when indulged in to excess. I have never
used them personally, but I have only too often observed their
baneful influence on individuals of my acquaintance. I do not even
consider wine to be harmless, especially as it is most usually
adulterated. I have abstained from it for many years, indeed for
nearly a lifetime, with great advantage. In our climate none of these
stimulants are needed, and I very much question whether they are more
necessary elsewhere.
Accept my thanks for the questions you have addressed to me.
B. ST. HlLAIRE.
Feb. 24, 1882.
MR. W. SPOTTISWOODE, D. C. L., LL. D.,
PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
In reply to your enquiry, I beg to say that I have never smoked, and
that I take wine only at meals, and in moderation. I have never
observed any noticeable effect from wine so taken on mental work, but
should think it quite insignificant.
W. SPOTTISWOODE.
DR. C. W. SIEMENS, D. C. L., F. R. S.
My experience has only extended to a very moderate use of alcohol and
tobacco. I find that even the most moderate use of tobacco is
decidedly hurtful to energetic mental effort. With regard to alcohol,
a very moderate amount does not appear to depress the mental
condition, under ordinary circumstances, but I find that although I
never indulged in its use I can do very well without it, and I am
doing with less and less. Under certain conditions, however, I find
that alcohol has a beneficial effect in restoring both mind and body
to a state of power and activity.
C. W. SIEMENS.
Dec. 4th, 1882.
MR. G. BARNETT SMITH.
I should probably not be accepted as an authority upon the tobacco
question, as I have never smoked a pipe or cigar in my life. As to the
use of alcohol, the moderate quantity I have taken has not been
detrimental to me, and, in consequence of the state of my health, it
has sometimes been necessary. No doubt a larger quantity of stimulant
than is essential is taken by many literary men, and by other classes
of the community; but a moderate quantity would, I believe, be found
beneficial by most writers. Of course, if a man finds that he can do
quite as well without alcohol, he is undoubtedly wise in discarding
it.
G. BARNETT SMITH.
March 28, 1882.
M. TAINE.
I regret that it is not in my power to give you the information you
ask. I have not made the question a study, and have no fixed opinion
about it. All that I can say is that I have never made use of alcohol
in any form as an essential stimulant. Coffee suits me much better.
Alcohol, so far as I can judge, is good only as a physical stimulant
after great physical fatigue, and even then it should be taken in very
small quantities. As for tobacco, I have the bad habit of smoking
cigarettes, and find them useful between two ideas,--when I have the
first but have not arrived at the second; but I do not regard them as
a necessity. It is probable that there is a little diversion produced
at the same time, a little excitement and exhilaration. But every
custom of this kind becomes tyrannical, and the observations which
accompany your letter are very judicious. Among the men of letters and
men of science around me there is not one to my knowledge who in order
to think and to write has recourse to spirituous liquors; but
three-fourths of them smoke, and almost all take before their work a
cup of coffee. I have seen English journalists writing their articles
by night with the aid of a bottle of champagne. With us, the articles
are written in the day time, and our journalists have, therefore, no
necessity to resort to this stimulant.
H. TAINE.
March 28, 1882.
MR. ANTHONY TROLLOPE.
I have been a smoker nearly all my life. Five years ago I found it
certainly was hurting me, causing my hand to shake and producing
somnolence. I gave it up for two years. A doctor told me I had smoked
too much (three large cigars daily). Two years since I took to it
again, and now smoke three small cigars (very small), and, so far as I
can tell, without any effect.
ANTHONY TROLLOPE.
Feb. 11, 1882.
SIR WILLIAM THOMSON, M. A., LL. D., D. C. L., F. R. S.
The question of usefulness or the reverse of tobacco or alcohol is
one of health, and to be answered by medical men, if they can. It
seems to me that neither is of the slightest consequence as a
stimulus or help to intellectual efforts, but that either may be used
without harm or the reverse if in small enough quantities, so as not
to hurt the digestion.
WILLIAM THOMSON.
Feb. 13, 1882.
PROFESSOR TRANTMANN,
BONN UNIVERSITY.
I am not a smoker, so that I am unable to make any statement
regarding the effect of tobacco. As to alcohol, I never make use of
spirits in order to stimulate my brain, but often, after working
hard, I drink a glass of beer or wine, and immediately feel relieved.
M. TRANTMANN.
March 14, 1882.
PROFESSOR TYNDALL, LL. D., F. R. S.
With regard to the use of alcohol and tobacco, I do not think any
general rule can be laid down. Some powerful thinkers are very
considerable smokers, while other powerful thinkers would have been
damaged, if not ruined, by the practice. A similar remark applies in
the case of alcohol. In my opinion, the man is happiest who is so
organised as to be able to dispense with the use of both.
JOHN TYNDALL.
Feb. 14, 1882.
MR. IVAN TOURGUENEFF.
In answer to your enquiry I have to state that I have no personal
experience of the influence of tobacco and alcohol on the mind, as I
do not smoke or use alcoholic drinks. My observations on other people
lead me to the conclusion that tobacco is generally a bad thing, and
that alcohol taken in very small quantities can produce a good effect
in some cases of constitutional debility.
Iv. TOURGUENEFF.
March 14, 1882.
MARK TWAIN.