Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-02-03
CIGARETTE SMOKING.
A Fatal Mania---StrOng Argument
Against the Use of Cigarettes---A
Deadly POiSiOn.

A Fatal Mania---StrOng Argument
Against the Use Of Cigarettes---A
Deadly POisiOn.
Lately mania for cigarette smok-
ing has developed itself Former
ly the fashion was confined prin-
cipally to boys and Cubans, but within
the past year or two it has been adopt
ed by all classes, and cigarette smok-.
ing is now the rule rather than the ex-
ception. In former times it was con- |
sidered en- reggie to smoke a cigarette |
between the acts of the play or opera,
but now the paper cigars are seen
on the streets and the front platform |
of cars, and the sale of meerschaum
cigarette holders is getting so large as
to gladden. the hearts of the manufac-
turers. Although there are expensive
brands of cigarettes, it very often hap
pens that the tobacco from which
many of them are made Is of an infe-
rior quality. These breeders of disease
are frequently compounded of refuse
tobacco, cut up from old butts of cigars
that are picked up in the street, and
the curled exquisite, putting away at
his cigarette, would probably throw it
| from him In disgust were he aware
| that the tobacco from which it is made
is, in all probability, the remains of a
/ cigar that has been between the lips of
/ a man afflicted with contagious dis
ease. There are instances now on re-
4 cord where sore mouths and some
times even worse complaints have
1 been introduced in this way. Another
Objectionable feature in cigarette fill
ings is that they are very often made
of Turkish tobacco into the compost
ton of which opium enters largely.
The effect of this constant inhalation of
this narcotic is Injurious beyond des-
cription. 1t acts directly upon both
the nerves and the liver, and to con-
slant smokers of the so-called Russian
or Turkish cigarettes soon become pale,
iaundiced, and listless, the enervating
drug sapping up the life of the smoker,
and, at the end of a few years, leaving
him unfit for work and
A VERITBLE OBJECT OF COMPASSION
in his inability to free himself from the
baneful influence of the subtle poison.
But, perhaps, the most deleterious eff
fects of cigarette smoking arise from
the paper in which tobacco in wrapped.
In the manufacture of this peculiar
paper, white lead forms one of the
component parts, and this, as is of
course known, is
A DEADLY POISON.
Naturally, this poison is absorbed into
the system, produces blotches on the
face, Injuries the teeth, and makes
sores on the lips. These. are but the
inevitable results of the mineral poison
absorbed, and may be seen time and
again In days walk, startling warn
7 ings against the perniciOus custom.
Another strong argument against
! cigarette smoking is the fact that the
combustion of the cigarette makes it
impossible to avoid inhaling large
quantities of nicotine, one of the most
! deadly poisOns known to the pharma-
l copeia The effect of this inhalation
: is this The stomach is coated with
nicotine and absorbs it into the pores,
causing an irritation that may eventu-
/ ally bring on an inflammation that will
be serious and perhaps even fatal in
9 its results. In smoking either pipe or
e cigar the nicotine is not taken into the
! system in such large quantities, and
hence the result is not so disastrous;
but the open end of the cigarette, the
7 incapacity of the paper to sufficiently
absorb the poison, render its passage
freer and more plentiful. A physician
! was heard to remark few days since
! that he would rather smoke four cigars
: than one cigarette, and gave the
reasons cited above. He also detailed
some of the symptoms that had lately
Z | rnA.an ho of n
, young man now under his treatment
: for serious illness from cigarette smok.
: ing
The patient was a young man o.
:, wealth and social position, who haC
acquired the habit of cigarette smok-
. ing, and had found himself at the enc
> of year utterly Frustrated with {
! disease in which excessive nervousness
= and racking pains in the head and bach
! were the principal features. The first
symptoms that had developed them
I selves were a smarting sensation il
! ! the lips, which soon became covered
: with red sores. These continued t.
: increase, and shortly the sufferer W as
, seized with shooting pains in the head
which became more and more severe
frequently causing loss of sleep. Fol
:. lowing this symptom came loss o
! appetite, and the unfortunate yOunl
= mao soon had craving for indigesti
: BILE and highly-spiced food, the eatin!
L of which naturally caused still furthe
! arrangement of the digestive organs
y As it looks at present however, thu
. mania would appear to be on the in
: crease.
. Among the other effects of the pois
y on that comes from the paper of ciga
( rettes is that it clouds the brain, act
= ing, as it does, directly upon its tissue
I as we'll as the nerves of the body. I
;, Mercury reporter cOnversed with on
= of the best known chemists in the cit
= on the subject, and was told that tn
e growth of cigarette smoking was do
= ing more to undermine the constitu
= lions of the young men of the countr
. than almost anything else. The gen
y tleman said that he was constantly be
= ing called in consultation with emf
:, nent physicians, who were endeavor
t ing to discover the cause of what t
It. them appeared mysterious disease
among the young men of the familie
of some of their most influential pa
tiaDtS In nearly pverv 20 so II uyaS dis