The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-11-18
peonle WHO Should not Smoke

In an article on the medical aspect OF smoking
tobacco. in the Food Journal, DIR. E. b. Gray
asks:
sis smoking injurious ?" This is an every
dav ouestion ant TO be put by patients to their
doctors. Like most broad questions OF the kino,
il involves far too many considerations TO ADMIT
of being answered by a plain yes OF no. n
medical man, who has long been a moderate
smoker and watched the effect OF the haoit on
himself and others, here offers what ne believes
to be the true answer to the question:.
First of all, there must be an UNDERSTANDING
about the quality of the tobacco to be smoked.
Bad-namely. rank, quickly intoxicating, ana
Frustrating tobacco Certain kinds OF snag ana
cayendish. for instance) must always be injurious.
Few can smoke them at all-nOne, habitually at
Ieast-with impunity. So too with regard to
o~uantity. even good tobacco smoked TO excess VIII
to a certainty be injurious to the smoker, sooner
or later, in some way or other. vi the various
evil effects of excessive smoking, more will be
said presently.
Next. as to the smokers. There are people to
whom any tobacco, however smoked, ID simply
poison, causing, even in small doses, vomiting,
pallor, and alarming prostration. Such people
never get seasoned to its effects, even after re-
peated trials; and if they are wise, they will
forever let it alone. They will display still
further wisdom by not presuming to make laws
for others who have not the same idiosyncrasy.
No one can enjoy smoking, or smoke with I'M
punity, when out of health. The phrase "out
Oh nedlbu, GuOuRn II hoy
mite enough to frame a general rule. At the
same time, it is useful to know what, if any, are
the particular disorders and conditions OF health
in which tobacco does special harm. AS TAR as
the writer's knowledge goes, these have never
been specified by medical writer's as clearly as Is
desirable.
To begin, a man with a bad appetite will, II
he smoke, most assuredly eat still less-a note
worthy ~fact.for 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 and ample illustration OF this
was furnished among the French and German
soldiers in the recent war. Again no man should
smoke who has a dirty tongue, a bad taste IN his
mouth, or a weak or dlsOrdered digestion. In
any such case, he cannot relish bis tobacco. lie
should be a golden rule with smokers, that the
pipe or cigar which is not smoked with relish
had better not be smoked at all. indigestion In
every shape is aggravated by smoking, but most
especially that form of it commonly known as
atomic and accompanied with hatulence. DIar-
rhoa, as a rule, is made worse by smoking.
One of the commonest and earliest effects OF
excessive or untimely smoking is to make the
hand shake. This gives the clue to another class
of persons who ought not to smoke-persons,
namely, who have weak unsteady nerves, and
suffer from giddiness, confusion of sight, tremu-
lous hands, tendency to stammer, or any such
IOlb &AhA ~ OO6SOO 0OOS -
functional weakness, still less allowable is 1T in
actual organic disease of the system as, for
instances, where there exists any degree of paraly-
sis or other sign of degenerative change In the
brain or spinal cord. The improper use of
tobacco does beyond question somehow interfere
with due nutrition of nerve substance. An Illus
tration of this, familiar to occulists and medical
men, is the so called tobacco amaurosis, u 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 or unsteady calculations and complain
of such troubles as palpitation, cardiac pain,
intermittent pulse, habitually cold hands and
feet, or chronic languor.
Lastly, there is reason for believing that the
habitual use of tobacco is likely to retard the
due growth and development of the body. If so,
no one should become a smoker till he is well
past the period Of puberty. Boys, moreover,
have no excuse for smoking, for they are spared
the hard wear and tear of adult life.
Now, after eliminating those who from lido
syncrasy cannot, and those who from bodily
ailment or from tender years should not smoke,
there will still always be a large residuum of
happy folk who can smoke, enjoy smoking, and
are indeed the better for it. These are they who
use tobacco without abusing it-use it, that is
to say, in moderate quantity, in due season, and
honestly for the sake of the comfort which it
gives them-a comfort every bit as Legitimate as
that which drinkers of tea, coffee, or wine ex-
tract in each case from their favorite beverage.