"I think, Watson, that I shall resume that course of tobacco-poisoning that you have so often and condemned." This is a phrase from a Sherlock Holmes story. Was knowledge of the risks of tobacco widespread in the medical community at that time?

by Nerfle
FictionalOrange

I asked a similar question a while back, and got a few answers, though nothing definitive: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1ismfu/was_tobacco_considered_dangerous_or_unhealthy/