The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-05-22
Tobacco and the Eyes.
The Effect Of the Use of Tobacco on the
Eyesight-The Results OF DIR. Ely's Ex-
animation.

1t is so seldom that any of the petty vices is
entifc standpoint that a paper on the use of
tobacco and its effect on the human system, in
which the treatment Of its evils is unbiased by
a fondness for it or adherence of it. is a well
come addition to the literature of this much
abused plant. observations upon the Effects
of Tobacco, by Edward T. Ely, M. D., read
before the New York Clinical Society, and
now reprinted in pamphlet form from the
New York Medical Journal of April, is such
paper and discusses the influence of tobacco
on the vision in very thorough manner.
DIR. Ely plunged in nledias res with the cour-
age of man whose only object was to learn
the truth and examined cigarmakers and per-
sons who work in tobacco factories, and are,
therefore, surrounded by an atmosphere laden
with the dust and Odor of the plant and made
more foul by the necessity of sitting in crowded
rooms with closed windows. Nearly all men
so employed smoke a great deal, many to ex-
cess and the long hours of work and the lack
of exercise-as cigar making is o sedentary
occupation-make the men liable to the worst
effects of tobacco. In the face of this :condi-
tion OF things DIR. Ely learned that the current
opinion that the use of tobacco Injuries the
eyes is false. He examined large number of
people as well as he could under the crcum-
stances, as they were unwilling to stop their
Work IOr even lew moments las itney are paid
by the ''piece'0 to permit the physician to test
their vision and to ask the few necessary ques-
tions. OF the one hundred and two persons,
mostly men, examined and catalegued, eighty
eight proved to have normal vision. In the
remaining cases, the defective vision of all but
two was Immediately traceable to other causes,
affecting the general health more or less. In
only two instances was the amblyopia at all
likely to be due to the influence of tobacco
and even in these, in view of the overwhelm-
ing exculpation of tobacco as a vitiating agent,
it is probable that further investi-
cation, if DIR. Ely had been given oppor-
tunity to ascertain more particularly the
general bodily condition Of the men,
would have revealed coincident or indepen-
dent causes of imperfections. The tests were
made under the best and most uniform condi-
tions attainable, and the variations in color of
the disc and similar unimportant details were
no more frequent and no more marked than in
non-smokers and people who are never within
the immediate influence OF tobacco in any
form. Fifty-nine of the persons examined had
worked in tobacco for 40, 35, %, % and "a
years. and other periods more than ten years.
They were of all ages within the bounds OF
manhood, and Of varied nationalities and col
ors, and most OF them had smoked for a long
time. some to excess for half a lifetime, while
two did not smoke at all.
DIR. Ely's data show conclusively that tobac-
co does not affect the eyes to an appreciable
extent, if at all, unless the person is constitu-
tlonaily antag0nlStlc 10 It's use, IN which case
the eyes are as likely to suffer as any other of
the senses. In the list we find: "Male, SO,
English, worked in tobacco 40 years; smoked
40 years, ten to fifteen cigars daily vision nor
NAL in all respects. Doesn't hurt me q Bit
Looks WE'LL" This testimony is repeated with
slight variation in the memoranda, throughout
the list, and one cannot avoid the conclusion
that the nervousness, indigestion, impairment
of vision, dulling of ofactory nerves, affections
of the heart, ETC., etc., which are constantly
laid to the charge OF this plant by unreasonable
anti-tobacconists, and of which a very few
hints were given by the men examined, are
due wholly and always to an excessive use of
tobacco combined with other excesses, as of al
cohol or to natural antipathy of individual
constitutions to the ordinary effects of smok-
ing, which may be the case in few instances,
and never to tobacco per Sc. The writer quotes
a number of able authorities in support Of his
view, such as Prof. Roosa, DIR. Roger s. Tracy,
DIR. N B. Emerson, Soelberg Wells, Carter,
DR.. Hubsch, De Weeker and others.
DR.. Ely has done a service to general hygie-
mic science by preparing so sensible and trust
worthy an essay on this much mooted subject,
| and has done much to remove false impress
| sion with regard to workers in tobacco, whom
he found to be generally healthy. He has not
| made an apology for tobacco, but defense Of
| fact and common sense, and for this the gen.
eral public is no less indebted to him than the
| medical profession.