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. But I think it would be difficult to lay down any general
rule for persons of different constitutions.

E. POCKNELL.
March 10, 1882.




PROFESSOR GEORGE RAWLINSON.


Although it does not appear to me that the method of your enquiry can
lead to any important results, you are quite welcome to any
information that I can give you on the subject. I was brought up to
take daily a moderate amount of beer or wine, and have continued to do
so all my lifetime, with the exception that my beer has been cut off,
and I have been recommended to take a little brandy and soda-water, or
whiskey and soda-water instead. I smoked an occasional cigar when I
was young, but never much liked tobacco, and gave up the practice
entirely when I was about five and twenty. I have never tried leaving
off alcoholic liquors, being advised medically that it would probably