human
Smoke?
gpt
I use tobacco in no form,
human
he queried when his astonishment found utterance.
gpt
What d'you do to kill time? Well, I been thinking about knocking off the stuff for a while. Mame gets sore at me for having my fingers all stained up with nicotine like this.
human
Soap won't take it off,
gpt
A popular but inexcusable error, said the doctor.
human
It is the tarry by-products of tobacco which cause that stain. Nicotine itself, of course, is a volatile alkaloid base of which there is only the merest trace in tobacco. It is one of the deadliest of nerve poisons and is quite colourless. There is enough of that stain upon your fingers--if it were nicotine--to kill a dozen men.
gpt
The hell you say!
human
Nevertheless, it is an indubitable fact. A lump of nicotine the size of the head of a pin placed on the tongue of a horse will kill the beast instantly.
gpt
This is worth knowin', he said,
human
Concerning the Cumberlands, said the doctor,
gpt
I--
human
Concerning the Cumberlands, repeated the cattleman,
gpt
Do I understand, he insisted,
human
From me, replied the other,