Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-25
EFFECTS OF SMOKING.
Tobacco Acts as a Stimulant and
Then as a Depressent.
NO GOOD FOR BRAIN WORKERS
Bat Will Do No Particular Harm to the
Laborer or Artisan.
THE DANGEROUS CIGARETTE HABIT
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.l
Is the use of tobacco injurious?

| WRITTEN fOh DlsPATCH.1
Is the use of tobacco injurious9
On this question no two doctors agree.
Some say that brain workers should use
tobacco moderately, and that they will de.
rive benefit for so doing.
Others say that tobacco used in any form
is injurious One doctor claims that it will
hurt the literary man or the man oil
sedentary habits, but that the laborer and
artisan can smoke all he wants to without
injury.
DR.. Charles L. Dana, of New York, has
studied this question thoroughly and is
particularly posted on the effects of tobacco
on the nerves, heart and brain. He makes
a speciality of studying nervous disorders.
This is what he said about tobacco:
'The habit OF smoking tobacco is a very
pernicious one if INDUCED in by bows who
are growing, or by young men. A compli-
cation OF nervous disorders is produced by
excessive tobacco smoking. Boys ought
not to smoke. I have seen boys who told me
that they commenced to smoke when they
were IL or IL years of age. Many of them
have started by picking up their fathers
half smoked cigar or by stealing his tobacco.
when these boys come to be II or 18
years of age they are thin, palefaced, short,
| and their vitality is seriously impaired. I
| don't think smoking hurts the laboring
classes as much because they have no nerves.
A great, strong, we'll developed bricklayer
can smoke almost anything and it will not
hurt him at all. Tobacco affects the nerves,
and then it affects the heart, when used to
excess in any form. Brain workers should
smoke in moderation. The most Injurious
shape in which tobacco can be used, 1
think, is the cigar. Ordinary cigarette
smoking is rot as injurious as many believe
it is, but if the smoker inhales the smoke
from the cigarette as a great many men do,
then it is most decidedly the most injurious
form of smoke. Usually only about two
thirds of the cigarette is smoked, and then
the tobacco IS of a mild kind that doesn't
contain anything like as much nicotine in
proportion as there is in cigar. One cigar
will weigh nearly as much as all the
cigarettes man will smoke in day.
GOOD WORD FOR THE PIPE.
"Pipe smoking is.the least injurious when
the pipe is kept clean. Those old-fashioned
long -stemmed pipes are the best that can be
used. Tobacco acts as a slight stimulant at
first, and Its final action is that of de-
present. 1t is a nerve poison, and it picks
out certain systems on which it works. The
first effects it will have on a smoker is to
>
and dyspepsia. The smokers heart is a
palpitation or irregular action OF the
heart 1t is very hard to state how
much man can smoke without be-
ing injured by its effects. A man of ner-
vous temperament should not smoke at all.
The average New Yorker perhaps smokes
on an average three or four cigars a day.
Some men limit themselves to one or two
and are much better off for SO doing. Some
men again smoke from Is to 20 cigars a
day. The only thing that can be said
about these men is that they are phenome.
nal, and no one can understand how they
can do it. The best time to smoke
is after meals. Smoking stimulates
the flow of saliva and a flow of the
gastric juice, and in this way can be said to
aid digestion. One always seems TO feel a
sort of relief from smoking after eating. At
least know do, and several others have
met tell me the same thing. Smoking to
excess after eating, though, will injure d.
gestlon: Smoking acts as a stimulant to
the brain, too. for short time, but it soon
goes off. You ask me is not some benefit
derived from smoking? don't want to 90
before the world and state that men would be
great deal better off if Sir Walter Raleigh
had never discovered this narcotic. I think
tobacco used judiciously will not hurt one
much. 1t produces certain pleasures. 1t
Is company for man, and comfort that
Will outweigh any number of evils. Nico-
tine is quickly eliminated from the BODY.
1t is a very powerful poison. A drop is
said to be sufficient to kill an animal How
much it takes to kill a man is not known.
as there are only two cases of fatal nicotine
poisoning on record. imagine, though,
that if man were to swallow a tablespoon
full OF plug tobacco that would be sufficient
to kill him.
TOBACCO TROUBLES.
"Scme people smoke very intemperatelv.
and here are few of the troubles that arise |
from SO doing: They get partial nervous |
weakness, which will eventually produce |
nervous breakdown; they get the smokers
heart, which is irregular and palpitating; |
ataxia, which causes the body to SWAY and |
tumble; dyspepsia, and in connection with |
alcohol, partial blindness Tobacco does |
not produce any organic disease; and one |
suffering from excessive tobacco smoke will |
soon recover if he puts the tobacco on one |
side. The nicotine will soon pass out of his
system"
DR.. John T. Nagle, Chief of the Bureau
Of Vital Statistics. believes that if man
can do without tobacco he will be all the
better for it, and he would never advise any-
one to begin to smoke, although he is a
smoker himself The doctor is a temperate
man though and smokes judiciously. He
said:
''The habit of smoking or of chewing
tobacco is a very injurious one. Tobacco
acts as stimulant and after the effects of |
that stimulant has worked off the smoker
feels worse than he did before he commenced
to smoke, that is, if he smokes merely to
have his brain or nerves stimulated. To-
bacco acts on the heart, and ii induced in
10 excess produces an irregular or tobacco
neart and also irritates the mucous mem
orane. If the heart becomes affected, and
he action OF 1t is irregular, the entire
,ervous system is disorganized.
THE DEADLY CIGARETTE.
''The most injurious form in which to-
,acco is put up nowadays is as a cigarette.
The tobacco used IN a cigarette is usually of
IN inferior quality. This in many instances
s doctored by peculiar favoring which
he manufacturers use and which is very
INJURIOUS to the smoker. Sometimes they
,ut saltpeter in the tobacco to keep it from
Trying too quickly. and in addition to all
hese bad features there is poison con-
aimed in the paper. Then the paper acts
IS a sort of conductor. 1t absorbs the
licotine and conducts it to the lips and
mouth, and in many cases produces poison
# the lips, mouth and throat. Inhaling
he smoke of a cigarette is very injurious.
t iniures the delicate membranes of the
hroat. A simple experiment which will
how how injurious a cigarette smoke in
aled may be is easily performed BY means
f a handkerchief. After taking moutbful
( smoke put the handkerchief tightly over