PARIS LETTER.
Paris, August 8th, 1883.Of all the theories propounded at the Paris Academy of Medicine, I know of none more absurd than that enunciated by M. Decroix, a retired army veterinary surgeon, on the depopulation of France, and the degradation of the French nation. In his paper, which he read at a meeting of the Academy, the author endeavored to make out that these conditions were brought about by the abuse of tobacco, which, in France, contained at least 9 or 10 per cent. of nicotine, and which, by its pernicious influence on the system, caused a diminution in the number of births and an increased rate of infantile mortality. Whether this theory was considered worth listening to or not, the members present paid no attention to the reading of the paper, which was performed in the midst of noise and marked indifference in the Assembly.To produce