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.
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