The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1871-12-21
People Wks Should not Smoke.

In an artlefs on the medlcai aSpec
Of sm0king tobacco, In the Foo,
Journal, Or. 4. b. Gray asks: o.
rs smoking injurious?" This Il
an every day question apt to be pu
by parents to their doctors. Like
most broad questions Of tho kind, Il
involves far too many considerations
to admit Of being answered by a plain
yes or no. A medical man, who has
long been = moderate smoker, and
watched the effect Of tho habit OF
himself and Others, here offers wha
he believes to be tho true answer tc
the question. .
First Of all, there must be an un
derstanding about the quality Of thu
tobacco TO be smoked. Bad viz
rank, quickly intoxicating and pros
trating tobacco Certain kinds Of shae
and cavendish, for instaRce,) mus
always be Injurious. Few can smoke
them al all-nOne, habitually, al
least-with impunity. So, too, with
regard to quantity, even good tobac'
co smoked to excess will, to a certain
ty, be injurious to the smoker, sooner
or later, in some way or other. O
tho various evil effects of excessive
smoking, moro will he said presently
Next as to the smokers. There are
people to whom any tobacco, however
smoked, is simply poision, causing,
even In small does, vomiting, pallor
ana alarming prostration. Such peo-
pie never get seasoned to its effects,
even aiter repeated trials; and If they
are wise, they will forever let alone.
Ihey VIII display still further wisdom
by not presuming to make laws for
Others who have not the idiosy ncrasy.
Noone can enjoy smoking, Ar smoke
with impunity, when out Of health.
The phrase "out OF health" though
1t may sound vague, Is definite
enough to frame general rule. At the
salnetime 1t Is useful to know what,
II any, are the particular disorders
and conditions Of health in which
tobacco does special harm. AS far
as the writer's knowledge goes, these
nave never been specified by medical
writers as clearly rs is desirable.
10 begin, a man with bad appe-
tlte VIII, II he smokes, most assured
y eat still less--a noteworthy fact fol
smokers or others recovering from
wasting illness or "off their feed
from whatever cause. This effect OF
tobacco, by the way, while an evil to
the SICK man who cannot eat enough,
becomes a boon to the starved man
who cannot get enough to eat; nm
ample illustration ofthis was furnish
cd among tho French and German
soldiers in tho recent war. Again,
no man should smoke who has a
dirty tongue, bad taste In his mouth
or a weak or disordered digestion.
In any such case he can not relish
his tobacco. II should he a golden
rulc with smokers that the pipe ol
cigar which Is not smoked with q
relish had better not be smoked ri
all. Indigestion in every shape i.
aggravated by smoking, but mos
especially that form of~it commonly
known asa tonic and accompanied
with fatulence. Diarrhea, rs a rule
is made worse by smoking.
ono OF the conmonest and earlies
effects of excessive or untimely smok
ing is to make the hand shake. Thi
| gives the clue to another class of per
sons who ought not to smoke-name
ly, persons who have weak, unsteady
nerves. and suffer from giddiness
confusion of sight, tremulous hands
tendency to stammer, or any sucl
symptoms. And If tobacco does harm
In mere functional weakness, still
loss allowable Is 1t in actual organic
disease of the system; as, for instance
where there exists any degree of para.
lysis or other degeRerative change in
the brain or spinal cord. The i'm
proper use of tobacco does, beyond
question, somehow interfere with due
nutrition of nerve substance. An
illustration Of this, familiar to ocu-
lists and medical men, is the so-callcd
tobacco amourosis, failure Of vision
occurring in excessive smokers from
mal-nutrition of the retina. Another
class of persons who ought not to
smoke are those who have weak on
unsteady circulations, and complain
Of such trouble as pal lpitation, cardiac
pain, intermittent pulse, habitually