Kant could work eight hours a
day after drinking a cup of tea and smoking a pipe of tobacco.
Professor Mayor finds that a day or two's fasting does him no harm,
and he thrives on "dry bread and water." Professor Boyd Dawkins finds
quinine the best stimulant; Darwin found a stimulant in snuff; Edison
finds one in chewing; Professor Haeckel finds coffee the best, and Mr.
Francillon and Mark Twain bear testimony to the value of smoking.
These differences point to the conclusion that the same rules cannot
be laid down for all. One thing is clear, however, that our best
writers, clearest thinkers, and greatest scholars do not regard the
use of alcohol as essential to thinking, and very few find tobacco an
aid. With one or two exceptions, the writers take care to minimise the
dangers incurred in the use of stimulants. Though they smoke, they
smoke the weakest tobacco; though they drink, they drink only at
meals. They work in the day time, take plenty of out-door exercise,
and rest when they are tired. Many regard tobacco as a snare and a
delusion; and all regard it as unnecessary for the brain of the
youthful student. The greatest workers and thinkers of the middle
ages, Dr. Russell remarks, never used it; [Footnote: Homer sang his
deathless song, Raphael painted his glorious Madonnas, Luther
preached, Guttenberg printed, Columbus discovered a New World before
tobacco was heard of.
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