It cannot be too widely known, therefore, that tobacco, like
alcohol, is of no advantage to a healthy student, and I advise young
men to avoid it altogether. Darwin regretted that he had acquired the
habit of snuff taking, and Mr. Sala says that had he his life to live
over again, he would never touch tobacco in any shape or form. Never
begun, never needed. "I do not advise you, young man," says Oliver
Wendell Holmes, "to consecrate the flower of your life to painting
the bowl of a pipe, for, let me assure you, the stain of a
reverie-breeding narcotic may strike deeper than you think. I have
seen the green leaf of early promise grown brown before its time under
such nicotian regimen, and thought the amber'd meerschaum was dearly
bought at the cost of a brain enfeebled and a will enslaved."
My conclusions, then, are as follows:--
1.--Alcohol and tobacco are no value to a healthy student.
2.--That the most vigorous thinkers and hardest workers abstain from
both stimulants.
3.--That those who have tried both moderation and total abstinence
find the latter the more healthful practice.
4.--That almost every brain-worker would be the better for abstinence.
5.--That the most abstruse calculations may be made, and the most
laborious mental work performed, without artificial stimulus.
6.--That all work done under the influence of _alcohol_ is
unhealthy work.
7.--That the only pure brain stimulants are _external_ ones--
fresh air, cold water; walking, riding, and other out-door exercises.
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