The Lancet, discussing Mr. Lewes's paper on tobacco pub- lished
in the Cornhill, and our comments thereon, gives it as its opinion that tobacco poison cannot create a permanent suscep- tibility to the action of the drug. Every smoker is poisoned once, namely, when he begins, but very few show the suscepti- bility. That would be final, if there were proof that the nausea, &c., which follow the first cigar were symptoms of poisoning, but that is not yet proved. People may suffer from mercury without being salivated, yet it is certain that if salivated they retain a permanent susceptibility to the action of the drug. The argu- ment that many persons injured by tobacco do so entirely recover as to be able to smoke again in moderation is a much stronger one, but there are many cases of a different kind on record. The Lancet distinctly admits the existence of persons to whom any dose of tobacco is seriously injurious, and the point we suggest for investigation is whether such a peculiarity of constitution cannot be superinduced by over-doses.
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