The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-16
DISEASE GERMS IN CIGARS.
The Dangers to Which Cigar-Smokers
UnconsciOusly Expose Themselves.
How LoathsOme and Incurable Diseases Are
Frequently Communicated to Smokers
Through Foreign-Nade Cigars.

by diseased workmen in filthy locations. The
excitement in New York occasioned by the death
Of Heinrich Hauch, which was directly attribut-
able TO such contact, was referred to, and the
danger that there might be in the weed, even to
smokers as far away from tenementhouse work
srs as is indianapolis. This city uses many
loreign-made cigars. There are only ninety cigar
factories in indianapolis, employing. all
told. fewer than 400 men, and the
yearly output does not amount to ten million Of
eigars The largest factory employs only thirty
hands, while many employ only from one to Ave.
There is no work here that can come under the
"tenement-house' designation, the cigar-makers
being for the most part German as to national
ity, and their quarters airy and Clearly. They
are as wel-to-do as any class of workmen in the
city. Relative TO the question of communicable
fly of disease by means of cigar, the following
opinions of home physicians may not prove I'M
interesting:
Dr. John Chambers: have no doubt in the
world as to the possibility and exceeding proba-
bility of communicating disease through the use
81 cigars. Indeed, such communication has been
proven in many instances. call to mind a case
where young woman engaged as a ciear-maker
In finishing or fixing the ends of cigars, and who,
in doing so, used saliva in her work She had a
sore mouth, manifestation OF a specific consti
tntional disease, and that disease, by smoking
che cigars she had finished, was communicated
70 a number of smokers. My own preferences
are for Indianapolis made cigars. The cigars
that come here from Eastern cities we have no
means whatever of knowing the circumstances
under which they are made OR the class OF work
men engaged in making them, though certainly
From some of the revelations occasionally made
we may we'll be alarmed.
DIR. John NJ. Dunlap: Mucous patches about
che mouth is an almost certain sign of specific
aisease This is a dreadful thing to communi-
cate to the innocent and unsuspecting, but it
may be done by the cigar where the workman
affected has the habit of moistening the tip with
bis saliva as many of them do. The mouth is
che port of entry for many diseases, and OF none
less dreadful than this / have limited at If
there is no abrasion of the lip the smoker is per-
haps in little danger
DR.. George w. Sloan: / am perfectly well
satisfied that if diseased person makes cigars.
employing fingers and spittle, that the smoker
is endangered. All that is necessary for COM
municatng the disease is contact with an abrad-
cd surface believe that mouth and throat dis
eases generally are increasing, but will not take
IL upon myself to attribute such increase to the
use of cigars.
Dr. Wm b. Clarke The general idea on TO-
bacco, when smoked, is that it is antiseptic and
disinfectant. That specific constitutional dis
ease can be communicated by cigar is, in the
light of experience, a very reasonable inference.
You remember that General Grant, who had
been in the habit OF biting off the ends
Of his cigars, ceased to DO so, after
he had seen the depraved and dis
their spittle. and from that time forward
while he smoked cut off the ends of his cigars.
Take the tenementhouse workers in New York,
who furnish large numbers of cigars for the
West. They are Chinese, Italians and other of
che poorest, dirtiest most depraved and diseased
specimens Of humanity, and that disease does
not follow their work would be something to be
wondered at. There is an increase in the irrita-
bility OF the mucous membrane OF the mouth and
hose. Cigar makers have fashion, particularly
the poor and dirty ones, of touching their fingers
10 their mouths, when putting on the wrappers,
and thus dampening them with spttle frequently.
DIR. G. w. Combs: A number of diseases can
be and doubtless are communicated by cigars
made by diseased workmen. The diseases so
communicable are eczema, the different forms
and varieties of tinea and other skin diseases.
and that dreadful specific constitutional disease
that need not name. / have treated diseases
that was firmly of the opinion were communi-
eated by cigars, but had no means of knowing
where the cigars were made, nor, indeed, Of fully
proving that the use OF cigar had caused it i
think the workmen here clearly and that we
have far better class of cigar-makers than are
IN the noisome tenements of great cities.
DR.. Henry Jamescn l think these cases OF
poisoning by cigars are rare here but undoubt-
edly poisonous disease germs can be SO co,nmu-
regulated cigar factory there Is a pot of clean,
fresh. sweet tragacanth paste. In the event of
the paste becoming dry, or for any other reason
q workman uses spittle upon the tip of the CT
gar, If he should be diseased blood poison could
be transmitted through the medium of that
cigar tip to the lip tongue of smoker.
have had cases of mouth and throat disease that
came from smoking, but it is a difficult thing to
follow up
DIR. L. L. Todd: There is no good reason why
sR0 chN nat ho audi NOT Aff
communicated by means of a cigar. have had
Eases which / surmised came in that way, but
could not positively determine such to be the
origin, as that is a difficult thing to do. Many
Eigarmakers use the saliva on the tips of their fin
tigers while at work, and others put their tongues
10 the end of the cigar at the finish. Certain
diseases could be communicated to smoker in
that way. In some diseases that saliva is as
poisonous as the hydrophobic secretion. have
treated patients whom 1 thought might have had
their disease from cigar thus loaded with
poison.
Dr. Allison Maxwell: There is no doubt that
disease is occasionally communicated by the
eigar. / know OF one man who got terrible
disease from smoking. The malignant sores
hrst appeared upon the tongue. There are now
many cigar stores that have machine TO chip
off the tips of the cigars That is good as far as
It goes, but 1t does not go far enough. / am not
smoker but l think at least half inch or per-
haps three quarters of an inch should pe clipped
off. Dirty workmen with sore mouths and sore
hngers can do much toward spreading disease
DIR. j. T. Boyd: The of cigars have
doubt has much to do in communicating disease.
The saliva can carry from diseased man to the
hip of cigar the germ of a loathsome disease
That may be communicated to the smoker and
one that may carry him to his grave. Smallpox
has been communicated by cigars, but
that is infrequent A more subtle
virus and worse disease is what
am speaking of. A large part Of the people en-
gagged in the large cities making cigars are dirty
and diseased. / suppose. if smokers could see
Aome OF these creatures at work upon the fra
grant weed, rolling it into cigars, finishing the
end with paste and spittle, they would forswear
Smoking ever after.
The Memorial Day Ceremonies.
The ceremonies Of Memorial Day will be observed