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Cautions to young persons concerning health: in a public lecture delivered at the close of the medical course in the chapel at Cambridge, November 20, 1804: containing the general doctrine of dyspepsia and chronic diseases, shewing the evil tendency of the use of tobacco upon young persons, more especially the pernicious effects of smoking cigars: with observations on the use of ardent and vinous spirits

In a lecture given to Harvard Medical School students, noted professor and physician Benjamin Waterhouse encourages young people to avoid tobacco and alcohol as a moral imperative and to continue a legacy of healthful practices set forth by the forefathers of the country. Waterhouse connects abstinence from tobacco and alcohol abuse to virtuousness, as was a common anti-tobacco narrative, and paints habitual tobacco users as “slaves” to their vice.

Picture of title page
  • Author/Artist:

    Waterhouse, Benjamin (1754-1846)
  • Year:

    1822
  • Type:

    Lecture
  • Topic:

    Alcohol, Tobacco
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