The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1886-10-15
The Tobacco Habit

Two OF our medical exchanges nav
contained letter from physician tell
ing his experience with tobacco. He
had been in the habit Of using 1t, "in
every form, perhaps not in excessive
quantities." for thirty years, and dur
ing at least twenty years his bodily
health and vigor were remarkably good.
But during five years past he has been
subject to attacks of diarrhGa, followed
by long periods of obstinate constipa'
ton; on one occasion when away from
homo and using more tobacco than
usual he fell in fainting fit, and on
another such occasion he was suddenly
attacked with terrific chest pains He
naturally concluded that tobacco was
injuring him, and ceased The habit Mt
once, "without Inconvenience. This
This case paves the way for few re-
marks. Many men are so constituted
that they may go on using tobacco ten
or twenty years without apparent i'll ef-
feet, and the daily papers are constant
ly informing us of very aged persons
who seem to thrive on the pipe, but the
fact remains that in the long run al
most every user of tobacco sees cause
to regret the habit-unless he
dies too soon. The young men OF
twenty years may find his hands tremb-
ling like those of q palsied old
man; the man of thirty may find his
brain incapacitatcd for business, and
his whole nervous system undermined;
the man of forty may find his muscular
fibre so relaxed that he is troubled with
falling rcctum, or impotency; the man
of fifty or more years may find himself
lettering in mind and body on the
verge OF premature grave; the man
and boy of any age is likely to find his
hearts action dcranged, his stomach
disordered, his intellect clouded and
his physical endurance impaired by the
use of tobacco.
1t is only question of time, if the
man lives long enough, when almost
every victim of the tobacco habit shall
find reason to regret it. II is hard to
make him believe that the time will
come, and many one is really suffer-
ing long before he can be convinced
that tobacco is the cause, while some
actually die from the effects of it with
out knowing what kills them.
A letter from Springfield, Ohio, t
the Cincinnati COMMERCIAL Gazette, de-
scribes the five-year old child of .
saloon keeper. prodigy named Petey,
who is renowned throughout the city
for his ability to smoke fifteen cigars
daily. Petey has three-year-old
brother that shares the "glory" OF this
unfortunate precocity. The account
says that physician was called in
to examine them, and finding no
evidence of evil effects from the
use of tobacco, sanctioned cOntinu-
ance of it without stint. Except for the
scriptural injunction against calling
"thy brother fool" we should have
something to say of that professional
brother. 1t is reported that both chill
dren began to smoke soon after they
were one year old, and that their ma
tural craving for it was tremendous.
Possibly they inherited with the appe-
tite great amount of tolerance" for
the weed, and they may be slow to show
the i'll effects of it, but we take some
consolation in the firm conviction that
they will not live to pass along their abb
normality to another generation.
"Their father is immensely proud over
their accomplishment, and supplies
them with all the cigars and tobacco
they want; it Is worth a great deal to
him in business way" ut is indie
scribably amusing to see the little fell
lows toddle into the barroom, and call
for cigars" The subsequent history OF
these much abused infants will be inter-
esting, but it will not be. ''indescribably
amusing. From DR.. Foote's Health
Monthly.